Cerritos College claims first place in South Coast Conference South Division after defeating Compton College 4-1.

After the game Coach Benny Artiaga said, “Another great win, Another great victory. This was probably as impressive of a victory that we had all year .”

The game began tense and aggressive with both sides wanting to win every last ball knowing what was at stake.

The first option of goal came from Compton College after Luis Lira had the ball stolen from him letting the Compton College forward dribble his way into the box gave a diagonal pass but was deflected by Cerritos keeper Jordan Aldama.

Compton College kept trying to open the deadlock when Juan Perez touched the ball to Jose Pina who then cut to the inside and took a shot but was saved by Aldama.

Moments later, Cerritos had a corner kick in their favor taken by Luis Garcia which resulted in a handball inside the box. A penalty kick was called in favor of Cerritos College.

Garcia who had five goals and three assists before this game covered the penalty kick and netted his sixth goal of the season.

The intensity of the game continued and was at times butchered because of the constant fouls that were being called.

Cerritos looked for the 2-0 lead in a set piece taken by Garcia who crossed the ball into the box which found Bryan Rodriguez open but was unsuccessful to put the ball away with his header.

Falcons had another close opportunity when Christian Perez covered a free kick but was rejected after Compton College goalkeeper, Larry Sanchez, had himself a save.

Before the end of the first half, there was miscommunication between Compton’s defense and their goalie.

Perez anticipated Compton’s defender and made his way inside the box, chipped the ball over the keeper, and netted the ball for the 2-0 lead.

The second half started like the first half with the same intensity and aggressiveness from both teams.

Compton College looked to get on the scoreboard with a free kick in their favor but failed as the ball went right above the crossbar.

Because of the aggressiveness from both teams, the game began to get heated and led to a slight altercation.

Garcia, who was involved in the altercation said, “I tried to poke [the ball], I fall, the keeper extends his foot, and he hits me on my shin when he hits me I just put my feet up and all their guys just come at me.”

Not wanting to receive a second yellow card, Garcia stood up and walked away from the dispute.

In the 71st minute, Guy Carven fed Garcia a through-ball allowing him to go one-on-one versus Larry Sanchez.

Garcia dribbled Sanchez off and finished with his right foot giving Cerritos a 3-0 lead and himself his seventh goal of the season.

Cerritos still had one more goal in them; Oscar Canela sent the ball towards Compton’s keeper, Sanchez, with no communication between Compton’s keeper and defense Carlos Payeras took advantage, won the ball, and scored the fourth goal.

Payeras was happy with his goal and the team’s chemistry stating, “ I didn’t even have to ask for the ball; Canela already knew where to put it- it’s just a great feeling knowing we have that chemistry. We just want to keep moving forward after this win.”

The Falcons were not able to finish the game with a shutout. In injury time Compton College forward, Ivan Vasquez, was pushed inside the box resulting in a penalty.

Alan Arias took advantage of the penalty and netted Compton College’s only goal.

Coach Artiaga described the penalty as a “really cheap call” and Luis Garcia said, “It was a soft [penalty kick]- I don’t think in a higher level playoff game they would call that a penalty.”

Artiaga believes the team could still improve in offense by being more efficient in their finish, but also said, “Today we were awesome- very rarely will you hear me say we were awesome- but today we were awesome man, from back, front, all the way around, we just dominated them.”