With sole possession in the Northern Division on the line, the Cerritos College football hurt themselves with penalties, failed opportunities in the red zone and injuries to several key players in their 18-13 loss to Ventura College on Saturday night. The setback drops the Falcons to 4-3 overall and 2-1 in the division with three games remaining. They will travel to Bakersfield College next Saturday for a 4:00 p.m. game.

The game started off great for Cerritos, with sophomore quarterback Morgan Fennell (Long Beach Poly HS) completing a long pass to sophomore wide receiver Robert Abeyta (Servite HS) that got the ball deep in Pirates (8-0, 4-0) territory. Fennell finished the game's opening drive with a 25-yard touchdown pass to sophomore Garion Manning (Long Beach Wilson HS) for a quick 7-0 lead.

But it would not be until late in the third quarter before the team would find the end zone again, as they had a bad snap deep in Ventura territory result in a fumble on their next possession, while sophomore kicker Marcos Torres (Gahr HS) missed a 21-yard field goal early in the second quarter.

At the half, Cerritos had put together 252 yards of offense, but could only amass 87 yards in the second half. 

As the missed opportunities continued to pile up, so did the injuries and penalties that stalled their drives. With 5:39 left in the second quarter, sophomore Paul Lopez (St. Paul HS) came in to take over for an injured Fennell, while freshman wide receiver Ricky Carrigan, Jr. (Cabrillo HS) was also lost for the game with an injury midway through the second quarter. Additionally, starting cornerback Theodore Chambers (Mayfair HS) was knocked out of the game with an injury, which exposed the secondary.

The Falcons took a 13-10 lead when freshman Michael Garrison (Dominguez HS) scored from two yards out with 2:06 left in the third quarter. The drive was kept alive by a long run by Lopez on fourth down. But the extra point was blocked and Ventura's Jordan Howard returned it for a two-point conversion. On the next possession, the Pirates drove downfield (thanks in part to several key Cerritos penalties) and took the lead for good on a four-yard DeMary Williams run with 10:36 left in the fourth quarter.

Cerritos had a chance to take the lead, but the sure-handed Abeyta dropped a sure touchdown pass at the Ventura 5-yard line with 7:40 left and then dropped a third down pass that would have resulted in a first down, keeping the drive going. With no timeouts, the Falcons went for it on fourth-and-goal at the Pirate 17-yard line, but Lopez was stripped of the ball and they turned the ball over on downs. Ventura then ran out the clock with successive first down runs.

Before getting injured, Fennell completed 7-of-10 passes for 181 yards, while Lopez was 3-for-13 for 44 yards. Freshman Joshua Caiquo (Los Alamitos HS) led the team with three receptions, with Garrison rushing for 84 yards on 22 carries. On defense, Daveyon Monette (Dominguez HS) and Chass Glaspie (Westchester HS) each had seven tackles, while the pair of Vailele Peko (La Habra HS/Saginaw Valley State) and David Moala (Serra HS) finished with six tackles.

Photo by Daryl Peterson