For the first time since the 2005 season, the Cerritos College men's water polo team has advanced to the state tournament, after winning their first  two games at the Southern California Regional Playoffs. The Falcons, who entered the post-season as the #3-ranked team, defeated Palomar College, 13-11 at Fullerton College on Friday to advance to the semi-final game. That put them up against #2-seeded Riverside College, a team Cerritos had already split their two games with this season. They posted a thrilling 11-10 win on Saturday, propelling them to the state tournament, which will be played at De Anza College next weekend. In the Southern California Championship game, an exhausted Falcon team ran out of gas against top-seeded Golden West and was defeated, 20-8.

Cerritos will open the state tournament at 11:45 a.m. on Friday against Diablo Valley College, the #1-seeded team from Northern California. In their only meeting of the season, the Falcons defeated Diablo Valley, 11-10 at the Golden West  Tournament.

Against Riverside, freshman Miguel Garcia (Montebello HS) led the way with three goals, while the trio of sophomores Rafael Romero (Montebello HS) and Daric Johnson (Whittier HS), along with freshman TJ Tigerina (Bell Gardens HS) each added a pair of goals to lead the way. Sophomoe goalie Michael Skinas (La Serna HS), who posted a career-high 20 saves in the win over Palomar, recorded eight stops and accounted for three steals to help defeat the Tigers.

It was Garcia who paced the Falcons against Palomar, as he scored five times, while sophomore Christian Flores (Montebello HS) checked in with three goals and three assists.

By the time Cerritos went up against Golden West a few hours after their win over the Tigers, they just ran out of gas after opening up a 6-3 lead. The Rustlers utilized numerous breakaway situations to score their goals in the second half against Skinas, who made 12 saves in the game. Garcia scored five more goals to lead the offense.

Photo by Daryl Peterson