Aside from a school-record 99-yard interception return for freshman cornerback Willie Fletcher (Orange Lutheran HS), not much went right for the Cerritos College football team in their 38-14 loss to Fullerton College at Falcon Field on Saturday night. Trailing 14-0 at the time, Fletcher picked off a tipped pass from Jose Escobar and raced 99 yards untouched for a touchdown that got the Falcons to within 14-7 in the second quarter. But that was as close as Cerritos would get, as the Hornets (2-0) racked up 419 first half yards for a 35-7 lead at intermission and cruised to the win.

The Falcons were victimized by poor tackling, while Fullerton moved the ball downfield with a mixture of running and passing plays. They took advantage of a Cerritos turnover and drove 96 yards with the scored tied at 7-7. From that point on, the Hornets controlled the tempo of the game and moved the ball downfield in bunches.

Sophomore quarterback Cody Clements (La Habra HS/Washington State University) threw for 210 yards on 16-of-31 passing, while the duo of freshman X'avier Shepherd (Lakewood HS) and sophomore Ricky Carrigan, Jr. (Cabrillo HS) each caught a team-high six passes, as sophomore running back Elijhaa Penny (Norwalk HS/College of the Sequoias) ran for 61 yards on 10 carries and one touchdown.

But it was the explosive Fullerton offense that jumped out to an early lead and put the Falcons behind early. Escobar was accurate on 21-of-27 passes for 283 yards and three touchdowns, and balanced that attack with 208 rushing yards and two more scores.

Sophomore defensive end Joshua Callier (Warren HS) recorded 10 tackles, while freshmen Brandon Moody (Sonora HS), along with sophomores Zach Hadlock (Huntington Beach HS) and Demarlow Moses (Dominguez HS/West Los Angeles College) added six stops each. The secondary was credited with 10 solo tackles, as they were covering receivers one-on-one for the majority of the night.

Cerritos will look to get back on their winning ways when they travel to Mt. San Antonio College (1-1) next Saturday for a 1:00 p.m. start.

Photos by Kelli Francis