The Cerritos College Falcons defeated Orange Coast 36-14. The score doesn’t really tell the whole story of the game.

It was an ugly start for the Falcons in the opening quarter as Orange Coast was able to dominate to kick the game off.

The Falcons’ first two drives ended with a punt and a bad snap in the endzone that turned into a safety giving Orange Coast a 5-0 lead.

Orange Coast would then get the ball back and stayed on offense for the remainder of the first quarter. But a five-minute drive would only result in a field goal giving Orange Coast an 8-0 lead.

The next drive is where the Falcon’s offense would wake up and were able to put six on the board after Cheo Medina scored a two-yard touchdown. The Falcons missed the extra point attempt making it 6-8.

The Falcons’ defense stepped up on Orange Coast’s next offensive possession forcing a turnover after linebacker Ronal Tebo Jr. made an amazing one-handed interception giving the offense a chance to take the lead.

The offense couldn’t capitalize on this opportunity as they went three and out and even missed the field goal attempt that would’ve given them the lead.

After another interception by the defense, this time by Tyler Henry the Falcons would shoot themselves in the foot again on offense failing to take advantage of the forced turnovers and punting the ball away.

With just four minutes left in the second half Orange Coast was able to drive down the field all the way to the seven-yard line.

What helped Orange Coast get down the field was the many miscues made by the Falcons.

“I gotta clean the penalty thing bad, the penalties is a lack of discipline and that’s on me,” said Coach Grosfeld.

Three big penalties resulted in a total of 41 of the 62 yards on this drive for Orange Coast.

On first and goal after a pass interference call the Falcon’s defense would make another huge play but this one resulted in a touchdown after Mister Bridges picked off Orange Coast at the five-yard line and returned it for 95 yards, giving the Falcons their first lead of the game.

This was a game-changing play and somewhat of a momentum shifter for the Falcons. It seemed up to this point of the game that Orange Coast had full control but this mistake was one that Orange Coast was never able to recover from.

The Falcons’ first drive of the second half resulted in a punt but the second drive looked promising as they were able to drive the ball down to the 13-yard line.

This drive would end up as a turnover for the Falcons after an interception was thrown in the endzone. The Falcons’ offensive struggles continued, but after the turnover the Falcons scored on their next three drives putting the score up to 35-8.

“We definitely played down today and which I’m not happy about as a coach, that program is struggling and we tried to play down to their level and that’s inexcusable, I gotta do a better job as a coach.”

It was a sloppy start for the Falcons but in the second half, they found life and were able to take full control of the game.