For the first time since the 2011 season, the Cerritos College football team has gotten off to an 0-2 start. The Falcons were defeated on Saturday night, 31-19 by visiting Fullerton College and will look for their first win next Saturday when they host a 6:00 p.m. game against Palomar College.

Although Cerritos never led in the game, they were able to come back from an early 10-0 deficit and tied the game early in the second quarter. However, the Hornets (2-0) scored three unanswered touchdowns for a 31-10 lead before the Falcons scored the final nine points. They were turned away late in the fourth quarter on downs when a chance to pull to within one touchdown was thwarted on a fourth down play.

After a Querale Hall (Mayfair HS) two-yard touchdown early in the fourth quarter pulled the team to within 31-17, the Falcon defense looked to change the field position in the team's favor. They started shutting down the Hornets on offense and pair of negative yardage plays on tackles by John Collins (Long Beach Poly HS) and Blake Young (Salesian HS), followed by a 12-yard quarterback sack from Daniel Moore (Long Beach Wilson HS) set up a fourth-and-35 and forced a punt.

The Falcons took over possession of the ball their their own 25-yard line with 4:51 left in the fourth quarter and the second series of the game for freshman quarterback Connor Crook (Los Alamitos HS). He came on in relief of sophomore Nick Mitchell (Mount Si (WA) HS/Oregon State University), who was hit hard on the previous series.

A tough 23-yard run by sophomore LaMarr Crowder (Cerritos HS) started the drive and was followed by a nice pass from Crook to freshman wide receiver Jacob Gasser (Los Alamitos HS), putting the ball at the Hornets 13-yard line. The drive stalled after that play and faced with fourth-and-six at the Fullerton six-yard line, the Falcons decided to go for the touchdown. Crook's pass to sophomore wide receiver Matt Rosales (La Serna HS) was incomplete and Cerritos turned the ball over on downs with 2:20 left on the clock.

Cerritos continued to hold on defense and the Hornets decided to run time off the clock in the final seconds and take a safety on a fourth down play.

Hall finished the game with 87 yards on the ground on eight carries, while Mitchell scrambled for 52 more yards on eight totes. He was only 7-for-18 in the air for 78 yards, which included a 47-yard touchdown to sophomore running back Kishawn Holmes (Murrieta Valley HS) on a swing pass for their first touchdown of the game.

Sophomore linebacker Alex Bush (La Habra HS) had a tremendous game and finished with 14 tackles, a sack and a fumble recovery, while sophomore strong safety Elijah Walker (Cabrillo HS) posted 11 stops. Moore ended the game with seven tackles and a sack.

Photos by Daryl Peterson