Cerritos College came out with a 1-0 win against rivals Mt. Sac, giving them their ninth win of the season and their ninth shutout game.
With the win, Coach Benny Artiaga said, “It sends a statement across the state, the country, and it also shows that our boys are ready and prepared to play this.”
The game was very paused because of the 43 fouls that took place in the game. Despite the 43 fouls only four yellow cards were given to each team throughout the game.
Cerritos had trouble in the first half not being able to create chances and penetrate Mt. Sacs’ defense.
Mt. Sac was the first to come off with warning of an attack; Sam Ponting shot from outside the 18 but was too centered and allowed Cerritos keeper Jordan Aldama to stay with the ball.
In the sixteenth minute of the game Andrew Perez committed a tactical foul giving him the first yellow card of the game and Mt. Sac a set piece opportunity.
The set piece was covered by Alexis Diaz but unsuccessful as it was cleared by the defense.
Diaz received the ball controlled it and shot from outside the 18 but once again Jordan Aldama stayed with the ball.
Cerritos managed to take possession of the game looking for a way to break the deadlock and were precise with their off-side traps.
Looking to break the deadlock for the Falcons, Guy Carven stole the ball in the midfield found Luis Garcia open on the left shoulder who entered the box, gave a pass to Jose Rivera who missed as the ball went above the crossbar.
Garcia tried to build up an offense play starting from Cerritos defensive end but as he was unsuccessful to find an open man he lost the ball to Mt. Sacs’ offense.
Knowing the danger of the counterattack Garcia committed a foul giving Mt. Sac a free kick opportunity which was covered and missed by Jason Ramos.
The first half ended 0-0 with both teams having opportunities to open up the scoreboard
Beginning the second half Mt. Sac gave Cerritos a warning after Andre Gamboa gave a diagonal pass into the box leaving Michael Gonzalez clear to score but blew the ball.
Diaz had another opportunity for Mt. Sac on a free kick opportunity but Cerritos keeper Aldama had a great block when the ball was going into the bottom right corner.
Christian Perez was able to open the scoreboard for Cerritos College when a bouncing pass was sent to him by Adrian Becerra and on a quick turnaround Perez let out a shot from outside the 18 and scored a worldie goal.
Perez stated that scoring his goal is a “great feeling being able to have my teammates depend on me.”
After the goal Cerritos stayed compacted and well structured having everyone defend the 1-0 lead that would give them the lead.
Mt. Sac could not find a way to get on the scoreboard and began getting frustrated which heated up the intensity of the game.
On staying focused on the game Eric Payeras said, “we all just came together for one thing, to win, so winning was in our mind so we stayed together focused on that instead of the fighting.”
On the team staying together as a unit Perez said, “we are really disciplined the coaching staff really taught us how we should defend and help eachother out.”
Payeras said the defense “ worked together, stayed compacted from forward to mid to the defense we just stayed all together and we grinded out the result.”
As for a prediction on how far the Falcons are going to go this season, Payeras believes the team is going to win it all.
