Playing their first road game of the season, the Cerritos College football team came up on the short end of a 24-21 score against Fullerton College at Yorba Linda HS on Saturday afternoon. The team will return to Falcon Stadium next Saturday for a 7:00 p.m. Northern Division game against Ventura College.

Midway through the fourth quarter, the Falcons (2-1) stopped the Hornets (2-1) on a long drive when sophomore defensive end Alex Jones (Maple Heights, OH HS/Eastern Michigan University) sacked Fullerton quarterback Joey Verheagh and stripped the ball. Jones recovered the fumble with 8:05 left in the fourth quarter and the ball at their own 16-yard line. On the day, Jones had five tackles, a sack, forced fumble, fumble recovery and a quarterback hurry.

After converting a third down when freshman quarterback Jimmy Walker (Redlands HS) connected with freshman wide receiver De' Jai Whitaker (Santa Monica HS) in the middle of the field, the drive stalled. Faced with a fourth-and-one at their own 43-yard line, the Falcons were called for a false start. Deciding to go for it, Walker saw his pass attempt to sophomore wide receiver Domonique Young (Long Beach Jordan HS) fall to the ground, and turned over possession.

Once again, the defense held Fullerton on a third and short, with freshmen defensive linemen Raymon Price (Long Beach Poly HS) and David Fangupo (Kealakehe, HI HS) stuffing Verheagh on fourth-and-one at the Falcon 19 yard line. Cerritos had one last chance to get to within field goal range with no timeouts and 2:05 left on the clock. A roughing the passer penalty on Fullerton got the drive off on a good note, and a three-yard run by sophomore Travis Newberry (Bellflower HS) earned another first down at the Cerritos 46-yard line. But a fumbled snap and three straight incomplete passes ended the chances for the Falcons.

Cerritos took a lead at halftime when they drove 70 yards on five plays and scored with :13 seconds left when Walker (13-for-27, 232 yards, 3 TD) hit Newberry on a swing pass and he scored from 13 yards out. But the Hornets scored two third quarter touchdowns to take a 24-14 lead until Walker connected with Young from 48 yards coming out of a timeout for a touchdown with 2:17 left in the third quarter. Those turned out to be the final points of the game.

Young had just two receptions on the day, with the other going 70 yards for a touchdown late in the first quarter when he was left wide open. Sophomore tight end Ainslie Johnson (Servite HS) pulled in a team-high four passes for 41 yards. The ground game was limited to just 74 yards with Newberry leading the team with 38 yards. The Falcons were thin on the offensive line and had to move several players into other positions on the line.

Sophomore linebacker Aaron Porter (La Habra HS/UCLA) led all players with 14 tackles on the day and also posted 1 1/2 tackles for loss for the Falcons. He was joined by freshman defensive back Anthony Murray (Cherokee Trail, CO HS), who had 11 tackles, as the Hornets threw for 182 yards. Freshman defensive back Kyle Ray (Servite HS) totaled eight tackles, while sophomore linebacker Erick Zarate (Long Beach Jordan HS) added six tackles, a pass breakup and a quarterback hurry.

Photos by Daryl Peterson