It was nearly five years ago to the day that the Cerritos College men's water polo team defeated rival Long Beach City College. During that time, the Falcons had been defeated 10 times in a row by the Vikings. But that skid was snapped on Wednesday, as Cerritos posted an 11-9 win to clinch the conference's regular season championship. Next up for the team is the South Coast Conference Tournament, which will start on November 2 and take place at Long Beach City College. The Falcons (20-8, 4-0) go into the tournament as the #1-seeded team.

The Falcons, who never trailed in the match, used great defense and the play of sophomore goalkeeper Diego Campos (Downey HS) to pull out the win. Cerritos took a 3-0 lead in the first period against the Vikings and each time their rival fought their way back into the game, the Falcons came up with a big goal. LB City scored three straight times to tie the game at 5-5, but sophomore Allan Jimenez (Schurr HS) was able to score with 30 seconds left in the first half to send the team into intermission with a 6-5 advantage.

With a pair of goals to open the third period by sophomore Kobe Hurtado (Cerritos HS) and freshman Jacob Colon (Schurr HS), Cerritos once again extended their lead to three goals. LB City was able to turn the Falcons away multiple times with a man advantage and were then able to counter and score.

Struggling at times to get the ball inside, the Falcons were awarded a pair of five-meter shots in the fourth period, which turned out to be their only goals of the stanza. Colon broke a 9-9 tie with a five-meter goal with 1:57 remaining in the period, while freshman Timothy Robles (Schurr HS) added one of his own with 1:33 left on the team's next possession. Cerritos was able to come up with 11 steals on the day, while Campos turned away nine Long Beach City shots.

Colon led the team with trhree goals, to go along with three steals and a pair of assists, while the trio of Robles, Jimenez and Diego Diaz (Montebello HS) each had a pair of goals in the win.

Photos by Daryl Peterson