Leading since the first play of the game, the Cerritos College football team had to stage a fourth quarter drive to pull out a 31-28 win over host Allan Hancock College on Saturday afternoon. Leading by as much as 24-13 with 1:32 left in the third quarter, the Falcons watched the Bulldogs score the next 15 points, including an 86-yard punt return by Elijah Holt with 11:21 left in the fourth quarter to put Hancock up, 28-24.

Cerritos (6-1, 3-0) took the next possession at their own eight-yard line and moved downfield with precision, which culminated with a 37-yard scoring strike to sophomore wide receiver De'Jai Whitaker (Santa Monica HS) with 8:51 left in the fourth quarter. Sophomore quarterback Jimmy Walker (Redlands HS), who struggled with his accuracy at times, threw for 330 yards and four touchdowns on just 17 completions.

With his passing total, Walker is now the only Cerritos quarterback to throw for over 2,000 yards both seasons and has 2,113 on the season and 21 touchdowns. He set single-season records in passing yards (2,323) and touchdowns (25) last season and is closing in on eclipsing his own marks. As for Whitaker, he pulled in six passes for 207 yards and three scores on the day. His 207 yards are the fourth most in a game in school history, while he set a new career receiving record with his performance. Whitaker now has 1,279 receiving yards and breaks the old standard of 1,181 yards set by receiving coach Joshua Robbins. He also has 900 receiving yards on the year and is close to breaking the record of 939 yards by Domonique Young last year.

On the eventual game-winning drive, the Falcons were aided by a personal foul penalty against Allan Hancock, which came after Walker completed a swing pass to freshman running back Kishawn Holmes (Vista Murrieta HS), who turned it into a 29-yard gain.

Just as they did the week before against El Camino College, the Cerritos defense stiffened late in the game and shut down the Bulldogs on their final two drives of the game. After gaining a first down, the Falcon secondary prevented completions on second and third down, which forced a punt. Cerritos went three-and-out on their next drive, resulting in a punt. Sophomore Corey Bojorquez (Mayfair HS) dropped his punt on the Allan Hancock one-yard line with 5:42 left in the fourth quarter.

The Bulldogs were able to move the ball up to their own 38-yard line, but that's where the pass rush broke through and posted a pair of sacks. On second-and-nine, sophomores David Fangupo (Kealakehe, HI HS) and Alonzo Hansen (Cabrillo HS) sacked Curry Parham, while Hansen got to Parham for a 10-yard loss on the next play. On fourth down, sophomore Danny Harry (John Adams, NY HS) forced Parham to rush his pass and it fell incomplete, with Cerritos taking over on downs and ran out the clock.

The Falcons opened the game with a big play, as Walker connected with Whitaker down the sideline for a 75-yard touchdown, the first of three scoring strikes on the day. Leading 21-6 at halftime, the Bulldogs scored on the opening drive of the second half as running back Dy'Kari Hickey scored on a five-yard run to make it a 21-13 game with 12:00 to play in the third quarter. The Bulldog defense forced a punt, but Hancock's special teams muffed the punt to give Cerritos the ball back deep inside Hancock territory. Freshman Adrian Saldana (Walnut HS) converted a 21-yard field goal to give Cerritos a 24-13 advantage.

Defense forced four fumbles on the day and recovered three of them, while sophomore Deon Smalls (Fitzgerald, GA HS) picked off a pass that resulted in a Falcon touchdown. Sophomore linebacker Keith Walker (Mayfair HS) posted 14 tackles on the day, with freshman linebacker Alexander Bush (La Habra HS) concluding the day with 12 stops. Smalls had eight tackles from his secondary position, with Hansen and Harry each finishing with seven stops.

The Falcons return home to Falcon Stadium for a 7:00 p.m. Northern Division game against Bakersfield College (1-6, 1-3).