Posted: Sep 06, 2023
It took several games for the Cerritos College offense to start clicking, and in the span of two games, the team has scored 14 goals, with the most recent win being an 8-0 victory over visiting Imperial Valley College on Wednesday. The Falcons (2-3-1) will travel to Bakersfield College on Friday for a 4:00 p.m. non-conference game.
Although they were kept off the scoreboard through the first 38 minutes, Cerritos continually attacked on offense and finally broke through in the 39th minute when freshman Chris Ramirez (Bishop Mora Salesian HS) sent a crossing pass from the goal line to freshman Donavan Perez (South East HS), who finished the play with a chip-in goal.
Before halftime, the Falcons made it a 2-0 lead on a beautiful crossing pass and from Perez to sophomore Chris Martinez (Montebello HS/Mt. San Antonio College), who was able to head the ball over Imperial Valley goalkeeper Mariano Gutierrez, who came out of his goal to try and cut off a crossing pass. But Martinez was able to send the ball into the empty net with his header.
If the offense was starting to gel, it continued to build steam through the second half, as they scored six more times. Not much more than two minutes passed in the second half when freshman Jose Lopez (MY Academy) controlled a loose ball, turned an fired a shot into the back of the net.
They scored goals in bunches and kept the press on the Imperial Valley defense. Seven minutes after the Lopez goal, sophomore Kevin Meza (ASU Preparatory Academy/Northern Illinois University) picked up his second goal of the season when he finished a play on a nice pass from Perez. And seven minutes after the goal that made it 4-0, the Falcons struck again, with freshman Adrian Ibarra (Downey HS) scored on a one-timer from a crossing pass by freshman Miguel Gonzalez.
Not done yet, Cerritos scored three times in the span of three minutes late in the game. Playing a role in all three of those goals, freshman Felipe Moreno (St. John Bosco HS) was credited with an assist on a second goal by Martinez, while he scored the final two goals. The first was on a steal and Moreno was able to chip the ball into the net on a pass from freshman Brandon Sanchez (Long Beach Jordan HS), while freshman Nicholas Silva (Pasadena HS) received the assist on the final goal of the game.
The eight goals scored were the most by a Falcons team since an 8-1 victory over East Los Angeles College on October 23, 2018.
Photos by Daryl Peterson
