A total of 15 players off the Cerritos College football team have been named All-National Division Central League after completing the season with an 8-3 record. The Falcons, who also defeated Long Beach City College, 35-28 in the Western State Bowl, saw four of their six 1st Team selections named as unanimous picks.
Sophomore running back Davon Booth (El Monte HS), who finished the season with 1,442 rushing yards and eight touchdowns in 10 games, was joined by freshman wide receiver Jaceon Doss (St. John Bosco HS) as unanimous selections. Doss led the receiving corps with 41 receptions for 848 yards and 12 touchdowns. Helping anchor a stellar offensive line was freshman tackle Edward Fonua (Orange HS), while sophomore cornerback Jayden Dunlap (Lawndale HS/Los Angeles Harbor College) was the lone defensive unanimous selection. Also earning all-conference recognition for the second straight season was tight end Jacob Leija (La Serna HS), with sophomore safety Milo Lopez (La Serna HS) rounding out the six 1st Team picks.
Booth, who averaged 6.5 yards per carry, was named the Most Valuable Player of the Western State Bowl and eclipsed the 100-yard rushing mark eight times on the year. He rushed for a career-high 286 yards against Riverside City College and finished the season with the third most rushing yards in a season in school history. He is also just the seventh player in school history to rush for over 2,000 yards in his career and has the seventh most with 2,006 yards. Doss, who concluded the season with 848 receiving yards, averaged 20.7 yards a catch. He ended the season with seven catches for 146 yards and a touchdown in the bowl game. It was his fourth 100-yard receiving game of the year, which included a season-high 191 yards and three touchdowns against Palomar College. His 848 yards were the fourth most in a season in school history.
Fonua helped both offensive players achieve their success this season, as the team averaged 33.6 points a game. Joining him on the offensive line as 2nd Team selections were sophomore center Joseph Perez (Warren HS) and freshman guard Robert Hamilton (Los Alamitos HS), who missed three games early in the year with an injury. The trio were mainstays throughout the year and helped open the holes for Booth to run through and provide pass protection for Doss to get open. A 2nd Team pick as a freshman, Leija was looked at as a sixth blocker on many plays, but was also a great route runner and had five of his 15 receptions go for toughdowns. He averaged 12.4 yards per reception and finished with 186 receiving yards.
The secondary was led by the tandem of Dunlap and Lopez, who tied for the team lead with 68 tackles on the year. Lopez, who had 15 tackles against Mt. San Antonio College, also had 1 1/2 tackles for loss and broke up three passes. Dunlap, who led the team with 10 pass break-ups, was tasked with covering the best receiver on each team every week. He turned that into 38 tackles and shut down receivers all season.
Earning 2nd Team honors was sophomore quarterback Jordan Simpson (Gahr HS), who finished the season with 2,438 passing yards and 27 touchdowns, while also rushing for two scores. Voted the Western State Bowl game's Cerritos Player of the Game, Simpson threw for over 300 yards in a game three times on the year, including a career-high 358 yards and four touchdowns against Palomar College. His passing yards on the year were the third most in a season in school history, while he concluded his career with 3,273 passing yards, which ranks fourth in school history. Freshman Mister Bridges (Lakewood HS), who is listed as a wide receiver, caught just one pass on the year, but was named 2nd Team all-conference as a utility player. A specialist on special teams, Bridges recorded a pair of tackles and also played a role on all kickoffs and punts.
Also earning 2nd Team recognition on defense included defensive linemen Daleoun Arthur (Cabrillo HS), Zyier Thornton (Lynwood HS/Los Angeles Harbor College) and Izaac Tauiliili (Cimarron Memorial, NV HS), as well as linebackers Jonathan Fuamatu (St. Paul HS) and Giovanni De Leon (Los Alamitos HS). Although he was injured in the early part of the season, the addition to Arthur to the defensive rotation made a huge impact on the team's overall performance. He finished with 23 tackles, to go along with eight tackles for loss, 3 1/2 quarterback sacks and a pair of forced fumbles. Arthur finished with a season-high six stops against El Camino College, which also included a pair of tackles for loss and 1 1/2 sacks. Thornton led the defensive line with 36 tackles and shared the team lead in sacks with four. His 8 1/2 tackles for loss led the Falcon defense and had at least one in six games during the year. Tauiliili recorded 26 stops on the season, while also adding five tackles for loss and recovered a fumble against El Camino. He also added 2 1/2 tackles for loss in that game.
One of the team leaders on the year in tackles (68), Fuamatau also recorded four sacks, six tackles for loss, recovered a pair of fumbles, forced a fumble and picked off a pass. He turned in a season-high 13 stops against East Los Angeles College and against Riverside City College, he scored a touchdown on a fumble recovery, while he had 2 1/2 tackles for loss against El Camino. De Leon was second among linebackers with 45 stops, which included a season-high eight tackles against El Camino. He also had four tackles for loss, 1 1/2 quarterback sacks and picked off a pass.