Cerritos rallies to beat Bucs

Chris Yemma

NORWALK -- With five minutes, 53 seconds remaining, and the Orange

Coast College football team down, 27-22, and driving for the go-ahead

score, a mirror-image of their season flashed before it.

Pirates quarterback Kyle Basanez threw a pass to receiver Shane

Hoffman, the ball bounced off Hoffman and Cerritos’ Tim McCullouch

intercepted to just about clinch the game for the Falcons Saturday

night in a Mission Conference American Division clash at Cerritos

College.

The Pirates (1-8, 1-3 in the division) got one last chance with

just more than two minutes remaining, but came up short on fourth

down in their own territory.

“This pretty much reflects what our entire season has been like,”

OCC Coach Mike Taylor said. “It was close, but not close enough. We

needed a few extra passes and runs and we just didn’t get them.”

Orange Coast was coming off a 10-7 loss to Palomar, decided by a

touchdown in the final 28 seconds. The first half of Saturday’s game

reflected the same type of performance.

With 28 seconds left in the first half, Matt Padilla ran for a

7-yard touchdown that put the Pirates up, 13-7, after a missed extra

point.

But the Falcons were not content to take that deficit into

halftime.

They got the ball back and Kevin Brown threw a 37-yard pass to

Anthony Oliver and a 22-yard touchdown toss to Michael Chowtham, and

had 13 seconds to spare. Just like that, Cerritos (3-6, 2-2) took a

14-13 lead into halftime.

“Both these last two games have been disappointing,” Taylor said.

“I don’t feel any better or any worse after this one, but it’s still

disappointing. When they went a million yards in no time [just before

the half], and with those three turnovers, it hurt us.”

Padilla led the attack for the Pirates, rushing for 142 yards on

25 attempts, with two touchdowns. He had more than 100 yards at the half.

But the quarterback-receiver connection of Brown to Oliver ended

up being the demise of the Pirates.

Brown and Oliver connected for 209 yards and one touchdown, and

Brown finished the game with 279 passing yards and two TDs.

Cerritos, a team ranked No. 11 in the 12-team conference in total

defense, held on and was able to stop the Pirates when it counted

most.

“This game was close,” Taylor said.