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CERRITOS DONS
8-3 overall last season, 3-0 in the 605 League, 1st place, lost to Highland High 21-17 in the CIF-Southern Section Division 9 first round playoffs
30-22 overall last five seasons
Head coach: Demel Franklin (third season, 17-9)
Lost 14 seniors out of 47 from 2024 opening day roster
Last time missed playoffs: 2019
2025 schedule
Aug. 22 Cypress (2-9 overall last season, Division 8)
Aug. 29 @ Gahr (8-6, D. 13)
Sept. 5 Portola (9-7, D. 11)
Sept. 12 Valley Christian (7-3, D. 9)
Sept. 19 @ Canyon (3-7, D. 11)
Sept. 26 Wilson/Hacienda Heights (11-2, D. 12)
Oct. 3 West Torrance (10-3, D. 7)
Oct. 10 BYE
Oct. 16 @ Artesia (9-3, D. 13)
Oct. 23 @ Pioneer (10-6, D. 14)
Oct. 30 John Glenn (1-8, D. 14)
It was business as usual, status quo, and any other cliché you want to add for Cerritos High as it pertained to the 605 League, winning its fourth straight title. But unlike the 2023 season when the Dons shocked the world and won the CIF-Southern Section Division 12 championship game and were two points shy of capturing a CIF Division 6AA state title, Cerritos was bounced out of the first round playoffs, losing a heartbreaker on the road in the Antelope Valley to the eventual champion Highland High. The Bulldogs edged Long Beach Wilson High 14-13, then got past Coalinga High 33-31 in the CIF Division 4AA state championship first round before falling to St. Vincent de Paul High 25-23 the following week for the state title.
“It was mistakes,” said Cerritos head coach Demel Franklin of the loss to Highland in the postseason. “All week, I knew they had some explosive kids, specifically [Andrew Garner] and [Demond Blanchard]. In my opinion, [Blanchard] was the best athlete they had, and I told my kicker whatever we do, we’re not kicking it deep. Late in the game, we kicked it right to him and didn’t tackle him and we were not able to recover from that.”
Following the loss, Highland head coach Richard Lear told Franklin that the game could have gone either way and out of the teams Highland had faced last season, Lear added that had Cerritos won that first round game, the Dons would have won the division.
In two short seasons, Franklin has continued to keep the program full steam ahead that was already heading in the right direction. Before Franklin, former head coach Brad Carter had compiled a 13-13 record in three seasons with two trips to the playoffs. Before that, Cerritos had not been to the playoffs since 2001 and had not won more than five games since 2003. In fact, Franklin’s two-year record is the best since Kurt Bruich went 16-6 in his final two seasons with the Dons (2000-2001).
“We have high hopes, and we have to execute; I have to do a great job of organizing,” said Franklin. “I’m not doing a great job without trying to get better. I’m going to different camps, clinics; going to different practices and taking what I can take to make us better. Absolutely, this is the direction we wanted to go.”
OFFENSE
The Dons began last season like a team that was ready to go back to the championship game, shutting out their first two opponents by a combined 75-0 score. The team still had momentum heading into the playoffs, winning the last five regular season contests and scoring over 30 points in those games. When the season had concluded, Cerritos lit up the scoreboard to the tune of 352 points.
Returning as the team’s quarterback is senior Justin Sagun, who was brilliant last season, throwing for 1,329 yards and completing over 65 percent of his passes. He tossed 15 touchdowns to eight different players but was intercepted eight times. Sagun is also the leading returning rusher as he gained 235 yards on 44 carries and scored half a dozen touchdowns last season. Franklin says he has improved tremendously in the offseason.
“His arm is so much stronger,” he added. “He understands things better, so he has more freedom. But he’s going to have the freedom to check to different players and keep it himself. He’s going to have input in the game plan. We’re not running any plays he’s not comfortable running. Before, I would just redesign it, but now, if he doesn’t like it, we’re not doing it.”
Franklin says Sagun will be throwing the ball more this season, mostly because the running game isn’t as strong as it was in 2024. He says, the team has two good running backs, but Sagun is going to lead the team. Backing him up is junior Alexander Laurin and Frankin says those two are more like 1 and 1A as opposed to Laurin being a backup. He completed 14 of 23 passes for 252 yards and had five touchdowns.
The rushing department will be handled by senior Labrenton Wilson and junior Sam Reeves, a transfer from John Glenn High. When speaking of those two, Franklin said, ‘that’s going to be a fantastic one-two punch’.
Senior Jayden Bagaygay will also get some time in the backfield, but Franklin admitted he’s more excited about his wide receivers even though the leading returners, senior Suvan Pradham and junior Terrence Grissom, each caught five passes for 63 yards and 61 yards respectively and caught one touchdown. Junior Matthew McCoy, a transfer from Bishop Montgomery High who stands at 6’ 2”, has drawn interest from colleges at several showcases.
Protecting all those guys will be senior left tackle Devion Stinson, senior left guard Jonathan Avendano, who moves from center, junior center Jayden Marcos, senior Luke Bocanegra or sophomore Marlon Vernon at right guard and senior right tackle Chidubem Ozoagu. Also in the mix at right guard is senior Dorian Hunn, a 6’5” 280 pound transfer from Gahr High.
The one thing that Franklin likes about the offense which will be different from last season is that he has 100 percent confidence in his offensive line. The Dons have been going to different showcases and tournaments during the offseason and Ozoagu and Stinson have each received offers from the University of La Verne at the Redlands camp. Then they each were invited to go to the San Diego State University full padded camp the next day.
“We have a lot of weapons,” said Franklin. “Before, it was more getting the ball to one guy. I can literally give the ball to anybody. When we don’t have any injuries or turn the ball over, we’re going to do some big things this year.”
DEFENSE
Last season was one of the best defensive performances the program has seen in a while, allowing 156 points, which was over 100 points fewer than the championship team. Franklin’s twin brother, Devin, is the new defensive coordinator. He’s been around the team for the past couple of seasons and was more of a consultant.
Seniors Nathaniel Marcroft and Makai Ortiz (34 tackles last season, four sacks) will be guards on the defensive line with sophomore Jared Fernandez in the mix while senior Bailey Crawford (43 tackles, three sacks) and junior Noah Schaffer will be on the edges. Crawford could also spend some time as one of the inside linebackers while sophomore Jacob Sims could be mixed into the line as well.
Senior Jacob Hoosac (64 tackles) has locked down one of the middle linebacker positions while the outside linebackers will be senior Tyler Ky (75 tackles) and a mix of either juniors Uriah Archie and Jordan Ju and sophomore Jameir Thomas. Any of those could spend also see time in the secondary as Franklin is preaching versatility.
Senior Michael Quibrantar (30 tackles, three interceptions), a three-year starter, will play free safety while the cornerbacks are projected to be either sophomores Austin Hobbs or Xavier Palmer and Wilson.
“I tell my position coaches we will not have a position where it’s all seniors,” said Franklin. “That’s out. We’re going to have some young guys; I want a 10th grader, an 11th grader and a senior at every position. So, if we get transfers or injuries or whatever, I have a guy behind him that has experience.”
SCHEDULE
Cerritos drops Buena Park High, Don Lugo High and Westminster High as non-league opponents and replaces them with Canyon High, Cypress High and Wilson High out of Hacienda Heights. Only Cypress was in a division higher than Cerritos and advanced to the playoffs but won just two games. Four other non-league opponents advanced to the playoffs last season with Division 11 champion Portola High playing the maximum number of games possible. Cerritos snapped a four-game losing streak to Portola last season with a 21-14 road victory, then one week later, was surprised by Valley Christian High 28-14. It was the fourth straight loss to the Defenders dating back to 2013.
“I, myself, wanted to play a more challenging schedule and my coaches agreed,” said Franklin. “And I wanted to stay somewhat local; I wanted to see what the local coaches do. So, it was either Cypress or Kennedy and the only way it could shake out is I had to take Cypress in week zero or I would have had to take Kennedy and drop Gahr, and I’m not dropping Gahr.
“If we’re going to preach a better brand of football, then we have to schedule it as well,” he later said. “I’m not interested in playing a team that’s in a lower, lower division and then running up the score. We don’t get better that way.”
After losing 13 straight games to Gahr, the Dons have taken two of the past three from their bitter city rivals to the north and when it comes time for 605 League action, the black and gold has won five straight each against Glenn and Pioneer High, the latter the defending Division 14 champions.
“I love the [league] competition,” said Franklin. “When I talked to those coaches at Pioneer, I congratulated them because it makes our league look stronger that we have champions coming out of this league. So, when we go to the playoffs, my opinion is we’re all brothers and I’m rooting for all of us to win.”
HOMECOMING
In 2023, Cerritos faced West Torrance High for the first time as a homecoming opponent and last season, the homecoming game was against first-timer Don Lugo. The Dons won that game 31-24. This season, another new opponent will be Cerritos’ homecoming opponent. Wilson is one of three opponents that won at least 10 games last season and will be the beginning of what figures to be the teeth of the schedule. Last season, the Wildcats scored nearly 500 points and since 1998, Cerritos is 8-18 in homecoming games.
FINAL COMMENT
“I love our chances; we’re doing some great work, and we’re starting to get some recognition,” said Franklin. “Schools are coming by, and we’ve done the Poly showcase, where we did very well in that. We did the Wilson showcase, and we did well in that. Some seven on seven tournaments…our freshman team beat Palos Verde, beat Los Alamitos, beat Montebello, lost a tough one to Upland and lost one to Villa Park. So, the young guys are competing. Varsity, we’ve done some great things on seven on sevens, so I’m extremely excited and I love our chances.”
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