No. 12 Hancock Football Returns Home to Host No. 7 Cerritos

The No. 12 Allan Hancock College football team will play a team ranked among the top seven teams in the state for the second straight week. Hancock hosts No. 7 Cerritos on Saturday, October 17, at 2 p.m. The National Northern Conference game will be Hancock's first home game since Sept. 19.   

Hancock remains ranked No. 12 and Cerritos at No. 7 because there was no new state poll released this week. The next poll will come out on Oct. 19.

Heartbreaking Loss at LBCC:   The Bulldogs are coming off a heartbreaking 20-17 loss at undefeated and No. 2 Long Beach City College last Saturday. The Bulldogs built a 17-0 lead in the second quarter, but lost on a last second field goal by LBCC kicker Sergio Garcia. Malik Williams sparked Hancock's first score with a 63-yard return on the opening kickoff. Bakari Davis scored on a 13-yard run to give the Bulldogs an early 7-0 lead. Williams scored on a four-yard run later in the quarter to stake Hancock to a 14-0 advantage. Jose Morales (Lompoc HS) converted a 29-yard field goal to put AHC ahead 17-0 with 12:59 to play in the first half. LBCC began to chip away at the deficit with a touchdown in the second quarter, another score in the third quarter and a game-tying field goal in the fourth quarter. Williams fumbled the ball on Hancock's final drive of the game that LBCC recovered at the Hancock 32-yard line that resulted in the game-winning kick.

Williams led the Bulldogs with 91 yards on 23 carries to go with two catches for 29 yards. Quarterback Curry Parham (St. Joseph HS) completed seven of his 22 passes for 80 yards. LBCC finished with one yard rushing, but 287 passing yards. Hancock led the time of possession category 33:34 to 26:26.

A Look at the Numbers:  Sophomore defensive end Kevon Perry remains the state leader with 16 tackles for loss, and ranks in the top 20 with five sacks. Williams ranks first in the state with 208.6 all-purpose yards per game. He averages nearly 60 rushing yards, 36 receiving yards, and more than 100 kick return yards per contest.  The freshman's top mark this season was against Bakersfield when he racked up 331 total yards, including 111 rushing, 40 on punt returns and 167 on kickoff returns.  

Williams leads the team with 294 rushing yards on 63 carries (4.7 yards per carry) and two touchdowns, as well as with 16 receptions for 187 yards. Freshman Chris Barganier (St. Joseph HS) has 14 catches for 202 yards.

Cerritos College Falcons:  Cerritos College is tied for first place in the National Northern Conference with College of the Canyons with 2-0 records. Hancock is half a game behind at 1-0 in league. Overall, Cerritos is 5-1 after last week's 40-38 come-from-behind win over El Camino. Cerritos trailed 38-21 with 5:42 to play in the third quarter before scoring three touchdowns the rest of the way. Quarterback Jimmy Walker completed 14 of his 24 passes for 213 yards and two touchdowns. Running back Kishawn Holmes rushed for 151 yards on 30 carries and scored two touchdowns to go with one lost fumble. Robert Gordon also scored two rushing touchdowns. Steven White caught five passes for 87 yards, while De'Jai Whitaker had seven receptions for 85 yards and two touchdowns. Whitaker caught a 17-yard TD pass to give Cerritos the lead for good with 7:15 to play in the game.  Raymon Price recorded 3.5 sacks in the win for Cerritos, while DJ Reed and Anthony Murray each intercepted one pass.

For the season, Walker has completed 54.5 percent of his 198 passes for 1,783 passing yards. He has thrown 17 touchdown passes and four interceptions. He has twice thrown four touchdown passes in a single-game. He ranks fourth in the state with 17 TD passes. Whitaker leads the team with 39 receptions for 693 yards, an average of 115.5 receiving yards per game. He has seven touchdown receptions. White and Dashawn Gordon have four TD catches each. White has 29 catches for 523 yards, while Gordon has 16 receptions for 296 yards. Holmes leads the tea with 491 rushing yards over 85 carries for an average of 5.8 yards per carry and 81.8 yards per game. He has five touchdowns. Sophomore punter Corey Bojorquez is averaging 43.2 yards per punt. Defensively, linebacker Keith Walker leads the team with 44 total tackles. Price leads the team and ranks fourth in California with eight sacks to go with 9.5 tackles for loss. Sophomore defensive back Anthony Murry leads the team with three interceptions.

History with Cerritos: The Bulldogs are looking for their first win in 10 meetings with Cerritos. The Falcons lead the all-time series that dates back to 1962 by a 9-0 record. Last year, Hancock fell 19-12 at Cerritos. 

Live Webcast: Hancock will stream a live broadcast of Saturday's game.  To view, click here.