The Falcons won a gritty win against a tough Mt. San Antonio team on Nov. 11 at 7 p.m. at El Camino’s football stadium with around 50-80 fans in attendance.
During the first half, the energy was there for both teams and their defense was on point throughout the game.
Cerritos the first goal in the 14th minute with Sophomore Uriel Sanchez (No. 11), Midfielder scoring an unassisted goal to start the game 1-0 Falcons.
After multiple fouls by Cerritos, Mt. San Antonio didn’t cower away as No. 14 Andrew Vazquez, Freshman Forward scored right back one minute later.
In the 44th minute, a foul from Mt. San Antonio resulted in a Falcons goal by Antonio Negrete (No. 16), Sophomore Midfielder, giving the Falcons a 2-1 lead in the first half.
Don’t be mistaken, the atmosphere was intense and had back-in-forth action with Cerritos and Mt. Sac constantly getting the ball in the other’s side.
The Falcons were extremely aggressive, having 10 shots on goal compared to Mt. Sac’s four.
Mt. Sac’s goalkeeper, Jacob Cardenas (No. 1) got key, athletic saves to allow Mt. Sac to try to claw back and win the game.
The fans were giving the refs grief all game because of the lack of yellow cards from Mt. Sac, which could’ve been way more cards compared to the stat sheet.
Around the 60th minute, Mt. San Antonio fouled Cerritos again and result in a huge goal for the Falcons as Sophomore Defender Alfredo Ortiz (No. 3) scored, giving Cerritos a 3-1 lead.
When it looked like Cerritos had stolen the momentum from Mt. Sac, Mt. San Antonio continued to fight with a foul and a yellow card from Julian Vazquez, allowing a penalty kick.
Mt. San Antonio’s Edward Castro (No. 11), Freshman Forward, took advantage of this huge blunder that the Falcons gave them and scored, slowing the lead down to 3-2 in the 68th minute.
However, Cerritos stopped Mt. Sac from scoring any more goals, winning 3-2 against Mt. San Antonio.
After that time ended, the Falcons soccer team ran onto the field as they were sharing their enjoyment of the victory with each other and their friends/families.
Pablo Caparelli (No. 9), the Captain and the Falcons Centerfielder said, “It feels amazing […] after all the hard work and dedication we [everyone] had for this team.”
“I feel like I just need to work on my conditioning,” the Sophomore said about the adjustments he needs to make, “I feel like if I can do that better, I could last and I feel like I can do way better.”
“I think this is the best team in Cerritos so far and I just can’t wait to go to Sacramento because I know we’re going to make it over there,” Caparelli said,
Freshman Goalkeeper Steven Ruiz (No. 0) said, “We’re really excited to finally get first place but we’re all looking forward to that state championship.”
“We got three out of the four out of the way, just one more to go,” he said and one of his teammates added, “you know what, jobs not finished yet.”
As for adjustments, the goalkeeper said that sometimes the team turns off, “When we turn off, teams really punish us and we just saw today […] we just got to clean up those little mistakes and keep it clean in the back.”
“Man, every time we take care of Mt. Sac [Falcons rivals], it’s a great feeling,” Falcons head coach Benny Artiaga said, “Our team worked really hard this year.”
“To go undefeated in California, man, I want to say it’s darn-near impossible because every game, someone is out gunning for you,” he added.
The Falcon’s head coach talked about the adjustments that need to be made, saying that the team controlled the game 3-1 but committed PK, which he added that it just takes a little bit more discipline and focus.
“Somebody would have to beat us at home for us to not get to our destination, which is the state championship,” he said about regionals, “We’ll have the boys prepared […] we’ll have them ready.”
The Falcons will be playing the first round of the South California Regional Playoffs on Nov. 19 at 2 p.m.
