The Cerritos Falcons struggled for the second consecutive week at their home opener, losing to the Fullerton Hornets 31-19.

The offense had problems in the passing game as evident by the combined nine for 25 performance through the air.

Coach Frank Mazzotta said, “Offensively we’re not where we should be.”

Starting quarterback Nick Mitchell had a hard time getting into rhythm, throwing seven and 18 for a total of 87 yards with one touchdown and one interception.

His performance led to him to being pulled in the fourth quarter, and backup quarterback Connor Crook taking over.

Points for the Falcons were few and far between due to their inability to consistently score.

In the first quarter, Mitchell threw a screen pass to running back Kishawn Holmes that went for a 47-yard touchdown.

The only other touchdown of the game for the Falcons was a two-yard touchdown run by running back Querale Hall who ended the day with 87 yards rushing.

The Falcons scored a field goal in the second quarter, and in the fourth quarter, Fullerton quarterback, Jordan Hoy intentionally ran out of the back of his own end zone with four seconds left giving the Cerritos a safety.

The Falcons played a physical game, but defensively they were not able to stop Hoy who threw for 230 yards and ran for another 123, with three total touchdowns.

Coach Mazzotta thought the team, “Played a lot of defense.”

He added, “We put our defense in some tough spots.”

But he didn’t use that as an excuse, saying, “We didn’t play good defense at times.”

Outside linebacker Brevenn Howard stated, “I feel like we just needed to come out with more intensity.”

Running back Kishawn Holmes admitted that the team had a lot of “little mistakes.”

Coach Mazzotta stayed optimistic stating, “We’re getting there.”

Players on the team shared the same optimism of their coach.

Howard stated, “After this, we shouldn’t lose again.”

Coach Mazzotta added that, “It’s hard for people to see the progress, but we can see it.”

Holmes had strong feeling about the game and even went as far as to say, “We outplayed them by far, it’s just [that] you make mistakes and the other team capitalizes [on them].”

Holmes also went on to sing the praises of his offensive line saying, “They played their [lives] out.”

Howard seconded Holmes statement by saying, “They play very fast. They’re very very very strong.”

The defense had some problems in this game, coach Mazzotta stated, “We just weren’t making tackles.”

But Mazotta concluded that, “We don’t give up and we’re going to get better.”

Although the Falcons have had a rough start to the season they are not letting it effect their mindset towards the coming season.

About next week’s home game against Palomar, Holmes stated, “I’m always excited for every game.”