If the Cerritos College football team is going to look back on their 24-17 Northern League loss to Bakersfield College on Saturday night, they need not look past their missed first half chances. On four separate occasions in the first half, the Falcons (3-4, 1-1) started drives inside Renegade (6-1, 2-0) territory, but could only come up with three points. Multiply that with a fourth quarter interception return for a touchdown for the eventual game-winning points, and the loss starts to take shape.

Cerritos compiled more rushing yards (200-171), more passing yards (149-74) and had the ball for an extra nine minutes. But when it came down to execution, the Falcons were unable to finish drives and also turned the ball over on downs four times on failed fourth down attempts.

On the first drive of the game, freshman linebacker Latrell Stearns (Gahr HS) recovered a fumble at the Bakersfield 38-yard line after sophomore Semi Lavulo (AMES, UT HS) and freshman Derek Thomas (Huntington Beach HS) forced a fumble on a sack. After three failed plays, the Falcons went for it on fourth down at the Renegades 26-yard line but missed on a pass attempt by freshman quarterback Quentin Davis (St. John Bosco HS).

Bakersfield took their next possession down for a touchdown, but freshman Josh Caldwell (La Mirada HS) blocked the extra point. Cerritos was able to counter on their next drive, as Davis went 6-for-10 through the air and also collected 19 rushing yards, with the final five getting him into the end zone on a third down play. They were also 5-for-5 on third down conversions on that drive.

Early in the second quarter, freshman defensive end Jordan Thomas (Norwalk HS) stripped the ball away from Brandon Jones, with sophomore defensive tackle PJ Naufahu (El Camino HS) recovering the ball at the Renegades 29-yard line. But, like the first time they recovered a fumble, the Falcon offense sputtered and the team decided to go for it on 4th-and-13 at the Bakersfield 33-yard line, but freshman Isaiah Bravo (West Covina HS) saw his pass fail and the team turned the ball over again.

Jordan Thomas landed on yet another Bakersfield fumble on the next drive, with the Cerritos offense only able to gain one yard on their drive and Bravo punted the ball into the end zone for a touchback.

It became a 10-6 Cerritos lead with 5:11 remaining in the first half when freshman kicker Humberto Avila (Paramount HS) booted a 26-yard field goal after the Falcons looked to go for it on fourth-and-goal at the Bakersfield one-yard line. A false start penalty ended any hopes of going for the touchdown and settled for the three points. On the drive, freshman running back Rhamondre Stevenson (Centennial, NV HS) broke off a 25-yard run to the one-yard line that included second and third efforts to gain more yards. They had three shots at the end zone and were called for a pair of penalties.

In the second half, the Renegades started moving the ball and relied on Elisha Ortiz, who finished with 139 yards on the ground and another 26 through the air. With the Falcons leading 17-9 after a Querale Hall (Mayfair HS) six-yard touchdown run with 11:28 left in the third quarter, Ortiz started chewing up yards in chunks and put Bakersfield in scoring position. They tied the game at 17-17 with 9:32 left in the third quarter after a touchdown and successful two-point conversion.

After the tying touchdown, Cerritos once again drove deep into Renegades territory, but saw their drive stall in the red zone. They went for it once again on fourth-and-two at the Bakersfield 19-yard line, but Davis was limited to one yard and the Falcons turned the ball over on downs. At halftime, former players under head coach Frank Mazzotta (pictured, left), now in his 40th season as head coach, honored him with a surprise visit. Coach Mazzotta has won 255 games and helped 531 players receive scholarships during his team as head coach.

The Cerritos defense held once again, but on the Bakersfield punt, freshman Dior Denson (Gahr HS) allowed the ball to hit the ground in front of him and roll deep into Falcon territory. He picked up the ball and was quickly tackled for a four-yard loss, which put the ball at their own five-yard line. A three-and-out led to a 25-yard punt, which put Bakersfield in Cerritos territory. Once again, the defense stepped up and a pair of attempts from the one-yard line were stopped, including a three-yard loss on fourth-and-goal by Derek Thomas.

With Bravo back under center, his first down pass down the sideline was bobbled and dropped by sophomore Stacy Chukwumezie (Downey HS), which would have gone for a 96-yard touchdown. Then, on third-and-10, Bravo saw Bobby Robinson step in front of his pass and pick it off for a four-yard touchdown, which turned out to be the game-winning points. The Falcons did drive one last time and got to the Renegades 13-yard line. But Bravo's pass into the end zone was incomplete and the Falcons were forced to absorb a loss.

Defensively, the Falcons had some stellar performances, which included Derek Thomas (eight tackles, two tackles for loss), Jordan Thomas (five tackles, two sacks, forced fumble, fumble recovery), Isaiah Walton (Orange Lutheran HS), who finished with nine tackles, while linebacker Tishawn Barnaby (Centennial, NV HS) added seven tackles and Naufahu posted six tackles, two tackles for loss, a forced fumble and fumble recovery.

Hall led the ground game with 84 yards, while Davis and Bravo combined to complete 16-of-35 passes for 149 yards, with sophomore Justin Garrett (Gahr HS/West Los Angeles College), Chukwumezie and sophomore tight end Kevin Ventura-Cortez (Savanna HS/Santa Ana College) all pulling in four passes.

Photos by Daryl Peterson