Led by an opportunistic defense that picked off five passes, the Cerritos College football team recorded a 43-33 win over visiting Moorpark College in a Northern Division game. The win by the Falcons (6-3, 3-2) puts them in great position to receive a post-season bowl bid. After a bye next Saturday, the team concludes their regular season with a 6:00 p.m. game at College of the Canyons.

On the third play from scrimmage, sophomore linebacker Erick Zarate (Long Beach Jordan HS) picked off Zach LaBar at the Moorpark 42-yard line and eventually returned it to the 21-yard line. On the first Cerritos play, freshman quarterback Jimmy Walker (Redlands HS) hit sophomore wide receiver Justin Caines (La Habra HS) on a fade route in the corner of the end zone for a quick touchdown. The Raiders did take a 9-7 lead before the Falcons regained the lead before the end of the first quarter. The big play on the drive was a 64-yard reception to sophomore wide receiver Domonique Young (Long Beach Jordan HS), which set up a four-yard scoring run by sophomore Joseph Donnell (McNair HS/Sacramento City College).

On two more occasions, Moorpark took a lead only to see Cerritos come back and score to retake the lead. After both quarterbacks threw consecutive interceptions, the the Raiders took a 16-15 lead, while the Falcons came right back and drove 72 yards on 10 plays and scored for a 21-16 lead. Four different ball carriers accounted for 45 of the yards on the drive, with freshman defensive tackle David Fangupo (Kealakehe, HI HS) punching the ball in from a yard out for the touchdown.

Walker, who was picked off three times to give him a school-record 18 interceptions on the year, opened the second half with Beau Hunsicker hitting him on a dropback, picking off the ball and racing 30 yards for a touchdown. Not to be outdone, freshman defensive back Deon Smalls (Fitzgerald, GA HS) stepped in front of a LaBar pass at the Raiders 25-yard line and went untouched for a score to give the Falcons a 29-23 lead they would not give up.

A bad snap on a punt attempt and a block in the end zone earned Moorpark a safety late in the third quarter, but Cerritos came back and scored from 13 yards out when Walker found freshman wide receiver De' Jai Whitaker (Santa Monica HS) in the middle for a touchdown. Young pulled down a 40-yard pass to aid the drive. Before the end of the game, Young caught a 21-yard scoring pass and now has eight touchdowns on the season. Along with breaking the single-season receiving record (909 yards), Young has 48 catches, with the record set at 50 by receivers coach Joshua Robbins in 2008, while he's also two scoring plays away from tying a third school record, set in 1992 by Cliff Parks. Walker (2,022 passing yards) is also 297 passing yards away from the school record of 2,319 set by BJ Denker in 2012.

Zarate finished the game with 10 tackles, two interceptions and three quarterback hurries, while freshman defensive back Anthony Murray (Cherokee Trail, CO HS) had nine stops, an interception and pass breakup in the win. Sophomore defensive end Alex Jones (Maple Heights, OH HS/Eastern Michigan University) accounted for eight tackles and 1 1/2 tackles for loss, with Smalls adding seven tackles, two tackles for loss and a pass breakup to go along with his touchdown.

Photos by Daryl Peterson