For the second time in the school’s history the Cerritos College Falcons football team registered more than 60 points in consecutive weeks, winning by a score of 68-0 against the Orange Coast College Pirates in its first conference game of the season on Sept. 20.
“That’s how we had to start conference,” Cerritos head coach Dean Grosfeld said. “Really proud of our defense. Two shutouts in three weeks, that’s huge.”
“We knew we had to get off to that because the next six now are going to be tough,” he added.
This victory marks the Falcons’ third win in a row and second shutout in three weeks. The 10 touchdowns in the game ties a Cerritos school record.
Sophomore Trey Pinkney opened up the game with a 48-yard kickoff return.
The field position of the return allowed the offense to score on the first drive of the game. Quarterback Jeremiah Calvin connected with wide receiver Charles Clinton II for a 21-yard TD.
Linebacker Rocky Jack forced a fumble by Pirates running back Anthony Osorio during the Falcons’ first defensive play as Cerritos recovered the ball and set the offense up for another scoring drive.
Jack said, “We all just stay together as a program and we all do our job and everything comes with it. The plays come to you.”
The Cerritos defense recorded two sacks, two interceptions by cornerback Keion Andrew, forced two fumbles and saw 29 players record at least one tackle while four different players shared a team-high of four.
QBs Calvin and Nick Miali combined to throw for 410 yards and 5 TD as JP Gonazales added 48 passing yards of his own. The 458 passing yards in the game would be a new school record.
WRs Charles Clinton II and Michael Ashford caught two TD passes each.
RBs Romeo Clark and Josh Cason rushed for two TDs each as Cerritos totaled 239 rushing yards.
Cerritos improved to 3-1 on the season with a 1-0 start to conference play. Looking ahead Jack and the Falcons’ focus is to win out for a chance to play Mt. San Antonio College again in the playoffs.
Grosfeld noted that his team beat a similar Orange Coast team 28-14 in 2024 and said, “This team’s special, they’re doing some good things.”
“They’re really good kids but we’ve got to tighten things up. A couple offside penalties, little things that will hurt you when it’s a tight game we just got to clean up,” Grosfeld said.
The Falcons hold competitions every Tuesday amongst themselves to help them get better each week and prepare and then make adjustments when it comes to the games.
Cerritos’ next match will be a home conference game on Sept. 27 against a 1-3 College of the Canyons team that has lost close games to open its season, but also most recently won its first conference game.
