Even with a loss, the Cerritos football team still has a chance to finish with a high ranking.

Falcons’ Coach Frank Mazzotta said, “At the end of (the season), I don’t know if anyone is going to be undefeated.”

“The only team that hasn’t lost a game is Pasadena, and they have to play us, Mt. SAC, El Camino and Long Beach. So I don’t think they’re going to go undefeated.”

“Chaffey might go undefeated, but I don’t see them doing that.”

“We’re tied for fifth (in the Southern California poll) and we still have to play the people that are ahead of us.”

The Falcons begin Northern Divison play against El Camino Saturday at 7 p.m. at Falcon Stadium.

The Warriors (2-3) are led by sophomore quarterback Ryan Gilbert, who has passed for 1,230 yards and 11 touchdowns.

Gilbert succeeds Robert Hodge, the Mission Conference’s offensive player of the year who is now at the University of Colorado.

The rushing attack is led by freshman Alvin Marshall, with 293 yards and 3 touchdowns.

The Warriors’ leading receiver is sophomore Bennie Bishop, who has caught 18 passes for 391 yards and four touchdowns.

Marshall is second with 17 receptions for 251 yards and four touchdowns.

As a team, the Warriors average 115 yards rushing and 263 yards passing per game.

On defense, El Camino allows 134 rushing yards per game and 315 yards per game passing.

In its last game Oct. 6, El Camino was defeated at home by Saddleback, 31-3.

In that game, the Warriors passed for 300 yards and ran for only 26 yards while allowing 202 yards rushing and 233 yards passing.

The previous week, El Camino went to Palomar and came away with a 35-31 win over the highly regarded Comets.

Tara Carter contributed to the story.