A tale of bad blood as the Falcons matched up against their cross-town rival, the LBCC Vikings.
The Viking’s offense got to work as they put together a drive that ate up seven minutes of the first quarter as the Vikings were up on the board first with a passing TD.
The Falcon’s offense took the field as they drove down the ball effectively against the Viking’s defense.
On 2nd and seven, Quarterback, Jordan Simpson (No. 5), Sophomore, used his legs to score the Falcon’s first TD of the game.
The Falcons attempted the two-point conversion but were unsuccessful as the score was 7-6.
Cerritos’ defense forced a stop early against the Vikings on their second offensive possession forcing LBCC to punt.
It didn’t take long for the Falcons to get on the scoreboard once again in the second quarter as Simpson threw a jump ball against double coverage to Jaceon Doss in the endzone for the 38-yard TD pass.
The Falcons scored within six plays as they attempted a two-point conversion as Simpson connected with Noah Sanchez to take a 14-7 lead.
The Falcon’s defense forced a fumble and recovered within two plays of the Viking’s third offensive possession.
However, the Falcons failed to capitalize on the turnover as the Falcons were stopped on 4th and four turning the ball over to the Vikings.
The Vikings locked in and drove the ball down to the Cerritos 36-yard line where they were met with a 4th and six.
The Cerritos’ defense forced pressure on the throw as the pass was incomplete as the Falcons took over on downs.
The Cerritos offense marched downfield and scored once again as Simpson connected with Davon Booth for the 8-yard TD pass.
With under a minute left, the Vikings had all three of their timeouts and threw for 63-yards within four competitions as Long Beach scored on a 30-yard passing TD with just two seconds left, the score was 21-14 going into halftime.
The next score wouldn’t come until halfway into the third quarter when Long Beach tied the game at 21.
Cerritos’ next scoring possession came early in the fourth quarter when the Falcons drove down the field and brought the goal-line offensive package to punch it in as Booth carried it in for a TD as the Falcons took a 28-21 lead.
As mentioned all season long, the Falcon’s defense has been one of their best strengths as they forced another fumble and recovered it to take possession.
Cerritos started on the Viking’s 48-yard line and Simpson hit Doss in stride as he connected on a 30-yard pass once again against double coverage to his trusty receiver.
On 2nd and goal, Penieli Lauago punched it for the TD as the Falcons went up 35-21.
Down by two TDs, the Vikings were able to score another through the air to make it a seven-point game (35-28) with five minutes left to go in the ball game.
Cerritos attempted to run the clock out on their final possession and they were successful, two penalties on the Long Beach defense gave Cerritos the first down and won 35-28.
“Winning four bowl games in a row is huge for the athletic program at Cerritos,” Grosfeld added, “an 8-win season is a big accomplishment knowing we have the toughest schedule in the nation.”
“We had our hands’ full keeping composure against a very undisciplined team,” the head coach said, “They spit on us and talked negative the entire night.”
There were multiple late hits throughout the game and the refs had to tell the players multiple times to stop talking trash to each other.
The Falcons’ head coach added that beating Fullerton, El Camino and LBCC in the same year, “is great in a constant recruiting battle for student-athletes.”
“We have a great culture in our program with hard-working, god character kids that have bright futures on and off the field,” Grosfeld said about the team.
“I left a little bit of room for them to grow,” Simpson said, “for the next ones to come in and to go out and try to win a state championship at Cerritos.”
“I’m just hoping to be a good father and a good brother and wish for the best for the Cerritos Falcons,” Davon Booth said about his future.
The Falcons end their season with an overall record of 9-3 as the Falcons had a top 10 team in the CCCAA rankings.
