Must win is a cliché that is used fairly often in regards to sports. However, in regards to the Cerritos College football team that is exactly what it was facing when the team squared off against reigning conference champion Ventura coming off of a loss to Fullerton the week prior.
“Last year, the last play of the game, they threw it into the end zone and beat us,” head coach Frank Mazzotta said.
“And they ended up going onto win the conference. This is the team we had to beat to win the conference.”
Luckily for Mazzotta he wouldn’t have to worry about the game coming down to the last play as his team used a 35-7 first half to carry itself on toward a 3-1 season record and a 1-0 conference record as they would eventually win the game 44-28.
Offensive coordinator Dean Grosfeld stated, “[This] is huge. We had to win this one to win the conference championship that’s the measuring sticks, it’s kind of been us and them.”
Quarterback Jimmy Walker was on a tear as he threw for 366 yards on 20 completions out of 36 attempts and four touchdowns.
Two of those touchdowns were caught by wide receiver Steven White.
“He’s a great player and he’s smart. Once he starts connecting with his receivers and he starts to [see] what he’s doing you can’t stop him,” wide receiver Steven White said.
Walker and White connected for five catches, 148 yards to accompany those two scores.
One of the touchdowns included an 86-yard bomb that Walker threw into double coverage that White was able to sneak away with and take it down the field for the score.
After the play and despite the outcome, Grosfeld pulled his quarterback right off the field and yelled to him, “That was a dumbass pass!”
“I’m proud as heck of him, he’s an awesome player. But I’m really demanding with him and he’s pretty demanding of himself as well,” Grosfeld admitted. “It’s just an error in his decision.”
That wasn’t Walker’s only mistake on the night. It was the 13th straight game, dating back to last season (four this season), where Walker has thrown an interception.
Walker isn’t shaken by those stats as he said, “I also have 14 touchdowns.”
Coach Mazzotta doesn’t seem too worried either.
“Well last year he had [20 interceptions]. So [four] in four games isn’t bad.”
While the offense was putting numbers on the board the defense was keeping Ventura from doing just that.
Ventura scored in just 12 seconds after the Falcons took the lead in the first quarter with a little under 13 minutes remaining in the first quarter.
However, its offense would not score again until 50 seconds left in the third quarter.
Mazzotta and his coaching staff explained that when the Falcons have a big lead as they did in the first half, they can’t allow a team like that to make a run and make it close.
Grosfeld added, “We talk about finishing all the time with our [players], they don’t have that mentality yet…we have a tendency to take lapses, that’s what cost us last week and they don’t understand that teams like that can come back in a hurry.”
Despite the slight let down in the eyes of the team, the belief still remains that no one points a finger at any one else as it is a collective effort.
“We all lean on each other that’s what it all comes down to. When one of us is down the other one has to pull the slack,” defensive tackle David Fangupo said.
Fangupo suffered a broken thumb and sprained wrist in the last game against Fullerton.
Defensive end Raymond Price said, “All week we’ve been hyping on how we need to get to the ball faster, we need to get to the quarterback faster, so if we have a guy semi-injured we have to step it up.”
Price ended the night with three tackles to go along with two sacks. The defensive line was also led by defensive end Danny Harry who had seven tackles and a sack.
Despite the aforementioned statistics it wasn’t just the defensive line that held the Ventura offense scoreless for most of the game.
Defensive back Anthony Murray who missed the last game due to injury made up for lost time.
Murray returned with six tackles, two interceptions and a blocked extra point returned for a two-point conversion.
To sum up the night in one word Murray chose the word “sensational.”
“It’s always good to get your groove back. When you play this game confidence is everything…that [first] interception really put me over the top,” Murray explained with a broad smile.
Murray led the team in interceptions last season with six interceptions.
The team will try and make it two wins in a row as Pasadena City College comes to visit Cerritos College on Saturday, Oct. 3.
Before the season coach Mazzotta stated that Ventura was the team to beat. After the game he expressed that the team to beat now becomes College of the Canyons. While still remembering that every team is just as dangerous.
