After spotting visiting Riverside City College a 21-0 lead in the first half, the Cerritos College offense started moving the ball, but came up short in a 31-20 decision at Falcon Stadium on Saturday night. The loss drops the team's record to 2-3 as they take next week off for their bye week. They will return to action October 14 for a 1:00 p.m. game at Santa Monica College.

The Tigers (5-0) jumped on the board midway through the first quarter on a 53-yard scoring strike, and followed that with a touchdown on a 54-yard interception and return by Devanere Crenshaw. He stepped in front of a Quentin Davis (St. John Bosco HS) pass and raced down the sideline for the score. The Falcons responded with an interception by freshman free safety Devan Burrell (Centennial, NV HS) on the next defensive series, but the offense was unable to convert it into points.

Where Cerritos struggled on offense, Riverside City was able to move the ball in chunks. They took a 21-0 lead in the second quarter when quarterback Vic Viramontes scrambled 25 yards for a touchdown. He went on to rush for 132 yards and also passed for 152 yards and two scores.

The offense started to respond on their next possession with sophomore running back Vincent Brown (Artesia HS) carrying the ball three straight times. Freshman quarterback Isaiah Bravo  (West Covina HS) stepped in as the signal-caller and connected with sophomore wide receiver Stacy Chukwumezie (Downey HS) for a 42-yard gain, which put the ball at the Tigers nine-yard line. Two players later, Bravo hit freshman running back Rhamondre Stevenson (Centennial HS, NV) out of the backfield for a nine-yard touchdown.

After the Tigers converted a 35-yard field goal on their next possession, Cerritos moved the ball downfield once again. Aided by a 15-yard facemask penalty, the Falcons followed that with a 15-yard completion from Bravo to sophomore tight end Kevin Ventura-Cortez (Savanna HS/Santa Ana College), which put the ball at the Riverside 35-yard line. Sophomore running back Querale Hall (Mayfair HS) chewed up 13 yards on the next play and finished off the drive with a 10-yard touchdown run with :51 seconds left in the first half.

Early in the second half, Cerritos drove the ball to the Tigers 14-yard line, but freshman Humberto Avila (Paramount HS) missed a 30-yard field goal. The drive started deep inside Riverside territory after freshman Stanley Norman (Serra HS) returned a punt 50 yards.

Riverside took a 31-13 lead when they put together a 14-play, 88-yard drive that burned almost six minutes off the clock. Cerritos had one more offensive drive in them after sophomore Josiah Celestine (Rogers, WA HS) forced a fumble and recovered it on a punt that put the ball at the Tigers 27-yard line. Brown finished the eight-play drive with a one-yard scoring rush.

Defensively, Burrell picked off a pair of passes and led the defensive with eight tackles, while the duo of Derek Thomas (Huntington Beach HS) and Shaun Swayne (La Mirada HS) each posted six stops. Hall finished with 69 yards on the ground, with Bravo completing 10-of-17 passes for 142 yards. Chukwumezie pulled in four passes for 70 yards.

Photos by Daryl Peterson