Through the first 30 minutes of their game against visiting Fullerton College, the Cerritos College football had their offense running on all cylinders. They held a 23-16 lead, but struggled to find any continuity on offense and saw the Hornets escape with a 33-29 win. The Falcons (2-1) will now travel to Ventura College for a 6:00 p.m. game next Saturday.

Aside from a 13-play, 81-yard drive in the third quarter, Cerritos saw most of their drives end with sophomore quarterback Jimmy Walker (Redlands HS) getting knocked down on a pass, scrambling out of the pocket, getting sacked, or on the final drive, getting picked off. He finished with 350 passing yards, but 246 of those yards came in the first half. His two favorite receivers, sophomore De'Jai Whitaker (Santa Monica HS) and Steven White (Manchester, VA HS) combined for 304 of those receiving yards and all three touchdowns. But they were unable to duplicate their big-play strikes like they did in the first two quarters.

In the fourth quarter, the Falcons had the ball four times and their possessions ended in a lost fumble, punt, turnover on downs and interception. However, the Cerritos defense was able to stiffen several times, which gave the team two chances to take the lead in the final six minutes of the game. The depleted offensive line seemed to wear down as the game progressed, as they were playing without three of their starters. As a result, Walker was sacked four times in the second half.

Through the first three games, whitaker has caught 24 passes for 452 yards and five touchdowns, with Walker throwing for 1,006 yards and 10 scoring strikes.

Fullerton quarterback Trey Tinsley was able to find open receivers in the second half and finished the game with 245 passing yards on 22-of-34 passing. The Falcons were also playing without injured cornerback Anthony Murray (Cherokee Trail, CO HS), who serves as a punt returner.

The first half saw Walker connect with Whitaker from nine yards out on their opening drive of the game. They also teamed up for a 67-yard scoring strike less than a minute after the Hornets pulled to within 17-13. The touchdown put Cerritos up, 23-13 before a Travis Guerra 29-yard field goal on the final play of the first half put the score at 23-16.

In the third quarter, the Hornets tied the game at 23-23 until Walker and White put the team up, 29-23 with a 12-yard touchdown play on the last play of the third quarter. The Falcons were also victimized by missing a pair of extra points on the night. Fullerton pulled the game out by scoring the final 10 points of the game.

Sophomore defensive end Raymon Price (Long Beach Poly HS) spent a good portion of the night in the Fullerton backfield, as he led the team with 2 1/2 tackles for loss. But even when Tinsley was pressured, he was able to scramble away and find receivers across the middle for extra yardage. Sophomore free safety Deon Smalls (Fitzgerald, GA HS) led the team with 11 tackles, while sophomore linebacker Michael Hannifin (San Pedro HS) added nine stops before getting injured in the fourth quarter. Sophomore defensive end Danny Harry (John Adams, NY HS) had a solid game with eight tackles, a tackle for loss and a quarterback hurry.

Photos by Daryl Peterson