Facing their nemesis Long Beach City College for the South Coast Conference Championship on Saturday, the Cerritos College men's water polo team came away with a 13-11 win. The Falcon (26-4) avenged one of their losses this season and did it an an opportune time, as it came in the championship game of the conference tournament at Pasadena City College. When the Southern California Regional Playoff seedings are announced tomorrow, Cerritos looks to be seeded as high as #2.

Aside from trailing 1-0 early in the match, the Falcons led from start to finish and held off a late charge by the Vikings (19-5). They held a 6-3 lead after the first period and it was a 9-6 advantage heading into halftime. When LBCC got as close as 11-10 at the end of the third period, Cerritos responded with the first two goals of the fourth period.

Freshman Ever Resendiz (Colegio de Bachilleres 6, Mexico) scored on consecutive possessions to start the fourth quarter for a 13-10 advantage with 6:24 left in the game. A goal by Chaz Harker of LB City with 5:48 remaining turned out to be the final goal of the game, as both teams missed on their scoring chances and held off transition possessions for each squad.

It was an extremely physical match with 24 total ejections called. The Falcons lost sophomore Jeffrey Park (Cerritos HS) with his third exclusion in the third quarter, with three others playing with two. Cerritos held of a Vikings man-advantage in the fourth and had two of their own in the waning minutes of the game.

The quartet of Resendiz, freshmen Kameron Simmons (Evanston Township, IL HS) and Salvador Orozco (Montebello HS), along with sophomore Angel Rojas (Colegio Fray Luis Amigo, Venezuela) each scored three times for Cerritos, while sophomore Jesus Rojas (Colegio Fray Luis Amigo, Venezuela) assisted on four goals to lead the team. Freshman goalkeeper Matthew Contreras (Montebello HS) posted seven saves in the win.