Both teams hit the other with its best shot and both teams continued to respond but ultimately It came down to seven seconds and five yards.
Quarterback Jimmy Walker lofted a Hail Mary into the end zone as time expired it was batted down by the Long Beach City defense and hauled in by wide receiver Devin Mosley, five yards short of the end zone.
Head coach Frank Mazzotta said “It was no different than what any other team runs. If our guy would’ve stayed on his feet he could’ve ran in for the touchdown.”
Walker was not himself during the game, completing only 8 of his 23 pass attempts while throwing for 134 yards a touchdown and three interceptions.
Walker said about the final drive of the game, “That’s on me. I called the play at the line. Coach gives me the option and I did what I was coached to do.”
He added, “Tonight just wasn’t our night.”
Mazzotta said, “We tried to get in position a bit to get the Hail Mary. We got a good 20-yard run out of it but I don’t really have an answer for that.”
Offensive coordinator Dean Grosfeld could not be reached for comment following the loss.
Cerritos took a 21-10 lead into halftime with the home crowd on its side. The crowd only get louder as the Falcons forced a safety just five minutes into the second half.
From that point on, Long Beach City reeled off 17 unanswered points to put Cerritos down for the first time in the game.
Prior to the game, defensive tackle David Fangupo believed 2012 grey shirt Darren Johnson left Cerritos because he couldn’t play for the Falcons.
The Vikings running back Darren Johnson responded with a huge night on the ground. He rushed for 123 yards on 22 carries and a touchdown.
Last week Thadd Daniels was matched up with Nicholas Jones, the no.1 receiver from College of the Canyons. This week, the task only got tougher as Mike Wilson was the primary focus for Daniels and company.
In the fourth quarter on a third and 28, Daniels was beat down the sideline by Wilson and it would ultimately set up the game winning score for the Vikings.
“Our kid just got beat, he’s the no.1 receiver in the state. We left our guy one-on-one by himself and he got beat,” Mazzotta said.
Wilson ended the game with nine receptions for 197 yards and a touchdown.
Defensive back Anthony Murray commented on the defense, “We shot ourselves in the foot tonight. I cost us a touchdown. We couldn’t have done a better job tonight matchup wise and coaching wise. But sometimes the best isn’t enough.”
After the defeat, Falcon fans will have to wait until next season to see how the team responds.
Mazzotta said,“We have a lot of young guys and we’re losing a lot of good football players but we just have to go out and do some recruiting to replace those guys,
“We’ll be fine.”
