If it were a boxing match, it would’ve been called in the third quarter.
Nonetheless, the Cerritos College football team ran its record to 4-0 with a 36-27 win over Santa Ana College Saturday at the Santa Ana Bowl.
While the Falcons amassed 408 total yards, they also turned the ball over four times (including two fumbles) and were assessed 134 yards in penalties.
Falcons’ linebacker John Lopez said, “We didn’t have too good of a week in practice. I thought we came out better than we did last week.
“We still put it together, and we had a lot of turnovers by our defense.”
Trailing 7-0 in the first quarter, the Falcons scored a touchdown when Jermaine Whiten ran 9 yards around the left end, and took the lead on a fake kick when holder Glenn DeBerg pased the ball to Karim Lowen for the two-point conversion.
The Dons lost three fumbles, two of which led to Falcon touchdowns in the second quarter.
The first fumble came with 12:11 left in the quarter.
Rajaee Barnett recovered a fumble by Santa Ana’s Akalia Fox, in at quarterback,on the Dons’ 45 yard line.
Three plays later, Mike Harrison hit Jason McMillan with a 44 yard touchdown pass to go ahead 21-7.
With first down on its own 20, Santa Ana running back Brandon Fischer, who scored both of the Dons’ touchdowns in the half, fumbled.
Lopez picked up the ball and took it 44 yards for the touchdown, and Cerritos had a 27-14 lead at halftime.
“It was my first (touchdown) ever,” said Lopez. “I didn’t expect it.”
With Cerritos leading 27-21 in the third quarter, the Dons, after having stopped a Falcon drive with an interception, had fourth down on their eight yard line.
The snap was low and fumbled by punter Josh Raphael out of the back of the end zone for a safety and two points for the Falcons.
After receiving the free kick, the Falcons drove 53 yards to increase their lead to 36-21 on a 36 yard pass from punt formation by Harrison to Chris Chatman.
Chatman said, “That is a play we have.
“If the cornerback is off (coverage), we pass the ball, and if he’s on, then we just kick it.
“The corner happened to be off, so the quarterback threw me the ball, and I turned and ran.”
Santa Ana added a fourth quarter touchdown with 3:41 remaining, but could not recover its onside kick, and Cerritos ran out the clock.
Fischer finished the game with 32 rushes for 179 yards.
Lopez said, “He was a tough guy. We haven’t gone against a running back that big (6′, 220 lbs.).
“We started stopping him in the second half. In the first half, he scampered around us.”
The Falcons next game will be Saturday at 1 p.m. at College of the Canyons. The game was rescheduled from Sept. 15, when it was cancelled after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11.
Chatman said that Canyons will be a pretty tough opponent.
“Hopefully, we’ll win it like we’ve been doing.”
Lopez added, “Every game we have is tougher as the season goes along.
“We’ve just got to keep rolling.”
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | Final | |
| Cerritos | 15 | 12 | 9 | 0 | 36 |
| Santa Ana | 7 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 27 |
1st quarter9:53 SAC Brandon Fischer 13 yd. pass from Greg Farrell (Jon Biegler kick)7:07 CER Jermaine Whiten 9 yd. run (Karim Lowen pass from Glenn DeBerg)1:46 CER Andrew Harris 9 yd. pass from Mike Harrison (Adam Sonntag kick)
2nd quarter11:22 CER Jason McMillan 44 yd. pass from Harrison (kick failed)10:03 SAC Fischer 42 yd. run (Biegler kick)3:38 CER John Lopez 19 yd. fumble recovery (kick failed)
3rd quarter9:46 SAC Brent West 1 yd. run (Biegler kick)7:05 CER Safety – fumbled snap from punt formation4:44 CER Chris Chatman 37 yd. pass from Harrison from punt formation
4th quarter 3:41 SAC Blake Harano 15 yd. pass from Kelly Coburn (pass failed)
RUSHING: Cerritos-Josh Herrera 17-115 yards; Jermaine Whiten 14-42; Mike Harrison 8-14. Santa Ana-Brandon Fischer 32-179; Greg Farrell 1-33; Brent West 1-1; Akalia Fox 1-(-10).
PASSING: Cerritos-Mike Harrison 17-35-2-237. Santa Ana-Greg Farrell 17-35-2-196; Kelly Coburn 3-4-0-54.
RECEIVING: Cerritos-Chris Chatman 6-99 yards; Fausto Gonzalez 4-52; Josh Herrera 3-24; RAndy Raphiel 2-9. Santa Ana-Brandon Fischer 5-30; Kris Hall 4-54; Alfonza Williams 3-33; Blake Harano 3-28.
PUNTING: Cerritos-Scott Mackey 2-85 yards; Mike Harrison 1-50. Santa Ana-Josh Raphael 3-132 yards.
PUNT RETURNS: Cerritos-Andrew Harris 1-10. Santa Ana-Blake Harano 1-7
KICKOFF RETURNS: Cerritos-jermaine Whiten 3-144 yards; Chris Chatman 2-47. Santa Ana-Channing Jung 351; DeJuan Smith 2-37.
| Cerritos | Santa Ana | |
| First Downs-Total | 25 | 24 |
| -by rushing | 8 | 8 |
| -by passing | 13 | 13 |
| – by penalty | 4 | 3 |
| Rushes – Net Yards | 39 – 171 | 35 – 173 |
| Yards Passing | 237 | 250 |
| Passes Att-Comp-Int | 35-17-2 | 39-20-2 |
| TOTAL OFFENSIVE PLAYS – YARDS | 74 – 408 | 74 – 423 |
| Interception Returns – Yards | 2 – 2 | 2 – 0 |
| Fumble Returns – Yards | 1 – 19 | 1 – 3 |
| Punts – Yards | 3- 135 | 3 – 132 |
| Punt Returns – Yards | 1- 10 | 1 – 7 |
| Kickoff Returns – Yards | 5 – 161 | 5 – 88 |
| Penalties – Yards | 14 – 134 | 4 – 40 |
| Fumbles – Lost | 3-2 | 3-3 |
| Time of Possession | 33:40 | 26:20 |
