Playing in one of their highest-scoring games of the season, the Cerritos College men's water polo team posted a 19-18 South Coast Conference win over visiting Mt. San Antonio College on Wednesday. The victory by the Falcons (18-2, 4-0) keeps them in a first place tie with rival Long Beach City College, who they will host at 4:15 p.m. next Wednesday. Prior to that game, Cerritos will play in the Santa Monica Tournament over the weekend.

In a game that was tied 12 times, the Falcons were able to score the game-winning goal on a power play by freshman Ever Resendiz (Colegio de Bachilleres 6, Mexico) with :14 seconds left on the clock. The Mounties had one last time to tie the game, but could not get off a shot and Cerritos was able to run out the clock.

It seemed as though Cerritos had put some distance between them and Mt. SAC when they took a 13-10 lead at intermission. However, the Mounties scored the first three goals of the third quarter to tie the game. Sophomore Angel Rojas (Colegio Fray Luis Amigo, Venezuela), who had nine goals and six assists on the day, put the team on top, 14-13 with 2:36 left in the quarter. It was a 16-14 lead early in the fourth quarter on a Rojas goal, until Mt. SAC came back once again to tie it at 16-16 with 4:15 remaining.

Resendiz picked up his first goal of the game with 4:04 left for a 17-16 lead and then it was 18-16 after sophomore Jesus Rojas (Colegio Fray Luis Amigo, Venezuela) scored his third goal of the game with 2:48 remaining. Goals by Thomas Randles and Nicholas Perez tied the game with 1:02 left. An exclusion was called against Mt. SAC, which set up the game-winning goal, as Jesus Rojas spotted Resendiz and he scored while surrounded by three players.

Resendiz and Jesus Rojas each scored twice and combined for seven assists, while the goalie pairing of freshmen Jason Curiel (El Rancho HS) and Matthew Contreras (Montebello HS) each made four saves in two quarters of action.

Photos by Daryl Peterson