FOOTBALL: A wild first quarter in which Cerritos scored 34 points doomed the Pirate football team Saturday night, as VC lost their third straight contest for the first time in five years, 56-27 on the road. Freshman Aaron Stanton had 220 yards from scrimmage, including 154 yards rushing with two touchdowns and 66 yards receiving, and quarterback Brad Odeman threw for 38 yards, but it was not near enough to turn back the Falcons. The loss evens VC's Northern Conference record at 2-2, and lowers their season record to 4-4, forcing two must win games to end the season if they want to qualify for a bowl game.
On the first play of the game, Cerritos had a 72-yard pass play, and that was followed up with a touchdown run. The Falcons led 7-0 less than a minute into the game. VC used 1:27 of the clock in five plays on their first possession, but missed a field goal, setting Cerritos up for their next drive. Following an incomplete pass, Cerritos scored on a 75-yard pass play, taking just 29 seconds to score their second touchdown. Antonio Cowart blocked the Falcon extra point and Cerritos led 13-0.
Ventura showed some signs of life on the next drive, using 1:56 to run four plays. The drive was punctuated by Stanton's 36-yard scamper to paydirt and the scoreboard read 13-7. Following a 39-yard kickoff return, Cerritos scored yet again, this time on a 52-yard run, and the Falcons led 20-7 barely five minutes into the game.
The Pirates used some clock, relatively speaking, on their next possession, running nine plays in 3:36 with Stanton scoring his second touchdown on a 7-yard run. Alex Nelson's extra point was good and VC cut the deficit to 20-13. Another long Falcon return followed, and they took advantage of the short field with another touchdown and led 27-13. Two plays into the next VC drive, Cerritos intercepted an Odeman pass and returned it to the end zone for a 34-13 lead with 3:10 still remaining in the opening period.
Early in the second quarter, Odeman hit Devan Lesley for a touchdown and Nelson's kick pulled VC to within 14 points, 34-20, but the rest of the first half belonged to the Falcons. Cerritos scored two more touchdowns before halftime and took a commanding 47-21 lead into intermission.
Lesley scored on a 2-yard run midway through the third quarter to close the Pirates' scoring, and Cerritos racked up another touchdown at the end of the third, and added a safety in the fourth to make the final score 56-27.
Odeman completed passes to 10 different receivers with Jarrell Adams hauling in 97-yard on three receptions. Tajon Mondy had seven catches for 74 yards. Ronny Camacho led the defense with nine tackles and David Emanuel recorded seven stops.
The Pirates return for their final home game of the season on Saturday Nov. 2 against Allan Hancock College and complete the regular-season on the road at Pasadena on Saturday Nov. 9. Both games can be seen live on www.socalcollegesports.com.