Trailing the entire game, it appeared as though the Cerritos College football team had completed their comeback when Bailey Torres (Valley Christian HS) pulled in a pass from Jordan Simpson (Gahr HS) and raced 59 yards for a touchdown against Palomar College on Saturday night for a 34-33 lead. However, the Comets were able to drive the length of the field and connect on a 24-yard field goal from Landon Ogles as time expired to send the Falcons to a 36-34 National Central defeat, which drops their record to 3-4 overall and 2-1 in conference play. Cerritos will look to rebound when they travel to Riverside City College next Saturday for a 6:00 p.m. game.

Cerritos trailed 33-21 with 13:22 left in the fourth quarter after Palomar's Dorian Richardson scampered in from 15 yards out. However, on their next possession, the Falcons started moving the ball down the field with success. A 34-yard kickoff return by Torres from out of the end zone gave the Falcons decent field position. After six plays moved the ball to the Comets 32-yard line, Simpson connected with sophomore wide receiver DeJour Smith (Long Beach Wilson HS/Saddleback College), who dragged two Palomar players into the end zone for a touchdown with 10:05 still on the clock.

Poor tackling had hampered the Falcon defense all night, in spite if them being so consistent all season. They started to improve their overall game as the contest progressed, which led to a three-and-out for Palomar on their next possession. After the next drive by Cerritos stalled, the defense came out and held the Comets to a fourth-and-one situation with 3:08 left on the clock. They decided to punt, with the Falcons starting at their own 24-yard line.

A trio of J'lon Manning (Bellflower HS) rushes moved the ball to the Cerritos 41-yard line. On first-and-10, Simpson (8-for-14, 160 yards, 3 TD) was able to drop a beautiful pass into the hands of Torres, who raced into the end zone for a 59-yard scoring strike, while leaving 1:47 on the clock for Palomar.

On the first play from scrimmage, the Falcons once again had trouble bringing down 215-pound running back Tawee Walker, who broke off a 26-yard run on the first play. Later in the drive, Walker, who finished with 176 yards on the night, carried the ball three times for 26 more yards, which put the ball at the Cerritos 11-yard line with :13 ticks remaining on the clock. One more carry and a timeout with :02 left, set the table for Ogles, who hit his third field goal of the game.

The ground game for Cerritos was led by Manning, who amassed 96 yards and a touchdown, while Torres caught five passes for 106 yards, with freshman Luca Caldarella (Valley Christian HS) bringing in five passes for 79 yards and a score.

With the Comets throwing the ball 33 times and Walker breaking tackles to get into the secondary, the duo of sophomores DeMario King (Los Alamitos HS) and Cody Coleman (Narbonne HS/Northern Arizona University) combined for 21 tackles, with freshman linebacker Jonathan Fuamatu (St. Paul HS) contributing eight stops. A trio of defensive linemen each finished with seven tackles, with sophomore Keith Conley, Jr. (Cathedral HS/El Camino College) also recording a pair of quarterback sacks, while Cerritos had five sacks as a defensive unit.

Photos by Daryl Peterson