Cerritos College Shut Down in Second Half, Loses 15-6

SANTA MARIA – Cerritos College head football coach Dean Grosfeld had just one word to describe the Falcons’ performance in Saturday’s 15-6 nonconference road loss to Hancock.

“Embarrassing,” said the longtime staff member after his team was held to 196 yards of total offense and was shut out in the second half. Cerritos did not score a touchdown.

“Probably the worst in my 27 years here.”

The Falcons (1-2) converted a pair of first-half field goals by Moz Bojorquez (24 and 21 yards) and took a 6-0 lead into halftime. Quarterbacks Cade McConnell and Jordan Simpson completed just 8 of 17 passes for 127 yards in the half, including a 60-yard completion from McConnell to Darius Lawson to set up the field goal in the first quarter.

The quarterbacks consistently overthrew open receivers in the second half and struggled on third down. The Falcons converted just 22 percent of third-down opportunities (4 for 18).

McConnell finished the game completing 12 of 31 passes for 130 yards and Simpson went 8 for 12 for just 44 yards.

“We’re struggling really bad (at quarterback),” Grosfeld said. “We’re gonna play a different person next week”

The Falcons also struggled on special teams. Sophomore Omari Okeke muffed a second-half punt with a poor decision to field a sinking punt from Hancock’s Colton Theaker and lost the ball to the Bulldogs’ Angel Garcia. In the fourth, Abraham Delgadillo shanked a short punt that was fielded by Hancock’s Vic Garnes and returned 64 yards for a touchdown.

The Falcons also surrendered a third-quarter safety with a fumble in their own end zone.

Cerritos’ defense kept the team in the game most of the way, allowing just one touchdown, a 35-yard pass from Kalai Storrer to Mike McCoy late in the third quarter. Sophomore defensive back Cody Coleman led the team with 10 tackles and a forced fumble, freshman linebacker Jonathan Fuamatu had a sack and freshman LaVario Wiley had an interception.

“I’ve gotta give a lot of credit to our defense.”

Hancock, which visits Fullerton next week, improved to 3-0 and beat Cerritos for the first time in 11 meetings,