Tensions rose several times when the Falcons played the undefeated Riverside Tigers, Cerritos College longtime rivals.

At the Saturday, Sept. 30 game, Riverside dominated Falcons 31-20 with a 14-0 lead in the first quarter.

The Falcons consistently struggled to get ahead, they were, however, able to get on the scoreboard in the second quarter making two touchdowns.

They failed their two-point conversion after their first touchdown, but successfully made their field-goal attempt after the second touchdown.

The tension against the rivals caused an outburst by Falcon’s Head Coach Frank Mazzota when No. 4 middle linebacker Cameron Carr would not remove himself off the field after a verbal altercation with one of Tigers’ coaches.

Mazzota said, “Well he’s over on [the opposing team’s] side, and the [Riverside] coach said something to him- supposedly their coach said something shitty to him so he started mouthing off, but he doesn’t come off the field.”

He then had to remove Carr off the field, causing the initial outburst that inevitably involved the entire team.

Carr said the fight was caused by tension, saying, “that’s kind of like our rivalry there.”

He also feels like the team made mistakes and they need to “pick up” and learn from them.

No. 28 running back Querale Hall also felt like the team made mistakes.

“We played good- we just fell short on a couple possessions. It is a good learning game for us,” he said.

Hall made the team’s second touchdown, rushing 10 yards into the end zone in the second quarter with 51 seconds left before halftime, making the score 24-13.

Mazzota also credits a huge loss to four former defensive players accepting scholarships to, “Oklahoma, Houston [and] Arizona State.”

Hall thanks his offensive linemen because they “did a lot.”

“They blocked for me, they picked up, they let me get to where I had to get, so they definitely worked hard this week and it paid off by me scoring a lot of yards so I have to thank them first,” he said.

At the end of the game, the tension became increasingly problematic where both teams quarreled with each other at the end of the game.

Mazzota said he spoke with Riverside’s head coach and the coach said, “He actually told me he’s got a bunch of jackasses on his team.”

He notes that a possible reason to the fighting is caused by some of the Riverside team having out-of-state players, whereas, Cerritos College has mostly local players.

Hall said, “As a team, we can learn a little bit more discipline [and] a little bit more self control because it was a little rowdy- that’s not what we do at Cerritos College, so we can learn as a team to control ourselves better.”

The Falcons will have their bye week, and will play again at Santa Monica at 1 p.m. on Sat, Oct. 14.

Santa Monica current season record is 1-4.