Knowing that a win would secure their first Southern California Playoff appearance since 2015, the Cerritos College football team made no doubt about it, as they defeated East Los Angeles College, 48-6 on Saturday night. The Falcons (8-2, 6-1) finished in second place in the Central Division, will open the postseason on November 22. It also marks the first time since 2015 that Cerritos won eight games in the regular season.

It took less than a minute for Cerritos to get their offense started. Sophomore kick returned Rocco Caldarella (Valley Christian HS) returned the opening kickoff 42 yards, and when the first play from scrimmage went for 32 yards, Cerritos had the ball at the Huskies three-yard line. On the play, freshman quarterback Jeremiah Calvin (Mayfair HS) connected with freshman wide receiver Charles Clinton II (Long Beach Poly HS) for 32 yards, with the third play from scrimmage being a three-yard scoring strike to sophomore wide receiver Saxon Va'a (Banning HS), his first of two times finding the end zone.

The first East LA drive would end when the Falcons defense stripped the ball and sophomore linebacker Adrian Castro (La Serna HS) recovered the loose ball at the Cerritos 14-yard line.

A quick-strike 33-yard completion to Caldarella on the first play of the drive set the tone for the next offensive possession. Later in the drive, and faced with a fourth-and-one, sophomore running back Josh Cason (Long Beach Poly HS) kept the drive going when he converted. Cason would play a role later in the drive when he gained 21 yards on a reception, and then Va'a capped off the drive with a 10-yard touchdown.

Early in the second quarter, the lead was upped to 21-0, with sophomore running back Romeo Clark (Warren HS/Simpson, CA University) accounting for all of the yards on the ground. He broke off a 20-yard run on the first play and then broke several tackles to gain 42 yards on the next play. The third play was an eight-yard run for their third touchdown in as many possessions.

Before the end of the game, it would be a 27-0 game, which was aided by a 36-yard punt return from freshman Keion Andrew (Downey HS), which put the ball deep in East LA territory. Freshman quarterback Nick Miali (Foothill HS) took over as the play-caller and raced for 15 yards to the ELAC two-yard line, with sophomore running back Nick Adimora (Mayfair HS/Eastern Washington University) reaching the end zone.

Forcing a three-and-out by the Cerritos defense on the first drive of the second quarter, Va'a scored his third touchdown of the game, as he returned a Zakrea Abraham punt 64 yards for his first special teams touchdown of his career. Later in the quarter, sophomore Mike Evans (Downey HS) broke through to partially block an Abraham punt, which set up the team next touchdown. Adimora carried the ball twice for 40 yards, with his second tote from 27 yards out and resulted in a touchdown.

Although East LA amassed 335 yards and held possession of the ball for 40 minutes, the defense kept the Huskies off the scoreboard until the fourth quarter. The defense posted eight tackles for loss and intercepted three passes on the night, while Rocky Jack (Summer Creek, TX HS/Orange Coast College) and Ezra Mueller (Norwalk HS) combined for 11 solo tackles.

The offense scored three touchdowns on the ground, with Cason rushing for a career-high 108 yards, with Adimora scoring twice and Clark reaching the end zone one and finished with 92 yards on seven carries. Both receptions by Va'a were for touchdowns, with Caldarella accounting for 125 total yards.