Cerritos’ Whiten Helps to Ground Brethren Christian

Jermaine Whiten rushed for 266 yards and scored four touchdowns and Glenn DeBerg threw for three first-half touchdowns as Cerritos defeated Brethren Christian, 47-32, Friday night at Gahr High.

Whiten, who rushed for 278 yards in last year’s loss to the Warriors, scored on runs of 11, four, one and five yards. Cerritos scored on all six of its first-half possessions to take a 41-12 lead.

DeBerg, a nephew of former NFL quarterback Steve DeBerg, threw touchdown passes of five, 19 and 20 yards.

Despite being down by four touchdowns, Brethren fought back in the second-half.

Warrior quarterback Kyle Painter completed 16 of 29 passes for 232 yards and threw three touchdowns passes to wide receiver Dave Workman. Workman caught seven passes for 105 yards and Leon Green caught six for 90 yards. Green also rushed 49 yards in eight carries and scored one touchdown.

“He [Whiten] is unbelievable,” Brethren Christian Coach Bruce Eiem said. “I knew coming in here we had to have ball control and we had to stop Whiten. We didn’t do either. He beat us. We were in position to tackle him, but he made our guys miss all game long.”