In what was Moorpark College’s final home game of the 2016 season, emotions were certainly running high as Moorpark came away with a 35-28 victory this past Saturday over the Cerritos Falcons.

With only one week remaining for both teams, this game had the hopes of Raider-inclusive playoffs on the line and the victory for Moorpark keeps their bowl game dreams rolling as they head into the final week.

In a matchup which featured two teams of similar nature, and with the overtime win they pulled out last season looming, Moorpark knew they were in for another boat race of a game.

From the opening kickoff, Cerritos made it apparent that they would feed their bell-cow sophomore running back, Kishawn Holmes, as he carried the ball six out of 10 plays on their opening drive. On the 10th play Holmes rushed 11-yards for an opening touchdown, as they took a 7-0 lead early on.

Moorpark’s own powerful running back, Isaiah Johnson, who was out for most of the game last week versus Ventura with an injury, was charged up and ready for this one. Isaiah bulldozed his way 34-yards on the opening Raider drive, as quarterback Kado Brown finished it off with a pass to fellow running back Ray Thomas for an equalizing touchdown.

Cerritos came out in this game running an option offense, which allowed quarterback Nick Mitchell, and Kishawn Holmes to throw the Raider defense off balance while eating up yards in the process. On the ensuing possession for Cerritos, Holmes once again showed why he is now the conference’s leading rusher on his way to another touchdown after Moorpark forced them to a third-and 10 on the Raider 12-yard line.

After forcing Moorpark to punt on their next drive, the Falcons were stopped and had to punt the ball to the undoubtedly dangerous TJ Newborn.

Newborn took the short punt from Cerritos punter Brody Renaud and made them pay as he has done all season, taking it 39-yards for a touchdown and evening the score to 14-14.

Newborn spoke on his playmaking ability.

“That punt return gave us a ton of momentum, I just have to make one move and I’m gone.”

Adding to his big first half, Kishawn Holmes once again carried the ball into the endzone for his third rushing touchdown of the first half. That play was setup by a Nick Mitchell 39-yard pass to receiver Landon Jones.

Moorpark answered the call once again with a touchdown run by Isaiah Johnson, as the Raiders held true to their offensive strength and ran the ball 10 of 12 plays for the score.

Johnson totaled 149 yards off of 22 carries, and one touchdown.

Coming out of the half, and the score locked at 21 all, neither team had a hold on the other.

Both teams opened the quarter with stalled drives, but it was Moorpark on their second possession of the half who took their offense airborne…literally.

Kado Brown exploited some soft coverage by Cerritos, and found Corbin Covey on a bubble screen, who utterly abused the safety by hurdling him en route to a 22-yard touchdown.

Knowing they needed to slow down Holmes, and this Falcon offense, the Raider defense made some adjustments.

“We run the read option at practice every day,” said Moorpark defensive back Michael Hightower. “We were able to bring a ‘Raider down’ so our linebackers wouldn’t get reached, allowed our linebackers to make plays.”

The Raider defensive line stepped up in the second half, holding the Falcons to only seven points after the huge first half. Even though Kishawn Holmes tallied 61 more rushing yards in the second half, he made one mistake, and Raider defensive end, Jordan Flack was there to force a fumble.

Moorpark wasn’t able to capitalize on that opportunity, and on their next drive, Cerritos orchestrated a 12-play, 85-yard drive to even the score once again.

Fast forward to 11:11 left in the fourth quarter, when Moorpark looked to take a late lead; two holding penalties stalled the offense, drawing the home crowd to let out a collective groan.

After the punt, Nick Mitchell looked as if he could do no wrong while moving his offense all the way down to the Raider 24-yard line. But after an illegal blocking penalty, and a tackle for a loss, the Falcons faced a third and 24, when Moorpark was called for a roughing the passer penalty. This resulted in a first down for Cerritos at the 27-yard line, new life for the offense, under two minutes left in the game, and almost caused heads to explode in the home bleachers.

However, two plays later, Mitchell fumbled the snap and Moorpark linebacker, Bobby Ferrer recovered, setting up what would be a miraculous game-ending drive.

Aided by two personal fouls on Cerritos, and a few pass completions from Kado Brown to Emmanuel Osuchukwu and Ray Thomas, Isaiah Johnson took the handoff 25-yards when he fumbled at the two yard line.

But wait, there’s more.

Like an angel from above, wide receiver Ryan Willmore was there to pick up the ball and run in for the go-ahead score with only one second in regulation.

Brown finished the game going 10 of 15 passing for 110-yards and two touchdowns through the air, while adding another 59-yards on the ground, proving Moorpark has the better read-option duo.

This game could’ve gone either way, but a few mental errors by Cerritos spelled doom for them when it really counted late in the game.

Knowing that this game had extra implications for both sides, two ejections were handed out in this contest, one to each team. Both teams avoided the post-game handshakes and separated when the clock hit all zeroes. But, as the saying goes, cooler heads prevail, and Moorpark took care of business this time.

“You have to let the team know you have their back, but don’t run on the field,” said Hightower. “You win with class, you lose with class.”

Moorpark will wrap up their season this upcoming Saturday at Santa Monica as they look to finish the year strong, kickoff at 1 p.m.