Moorpark Looking for Luck : Football: Raiders hope to end two-game losing streak in postseason play in Strawberry Bowl.

For the seventh consecutive year, the Moorpark College football team will appear in a bowl game.

The Raiders could use a little of that lucky seven stuff right about now.

Although they have been one of the most successful teams in the state the past several years, the Raiders have not played well in bowl games. They have lost their last two and four of six.

But the Raiders (8-2) hope to change that when they meet Cerritos (7-3) in the Strawberry Bowl tonight at 7:15 at Cerritos.

The game, the first between the schools, will pit teams with slightly different offensive make-ups and solid defenses.

Moorpark, the Western State Conference North Division champion for the third consecutive season, depends a bit more on the pass. Cerritos, which finished fourth in the Mission Conference North Division, prefers to attack mostly on the ground.

“Looks like we match up with them pretty well defensively,” said Coach Jim Bittner, who will be going for his 103rd victory with the Raiders.

“They don’t throw the ball on every down. . . . Our major problem defensively has been with teams with spread-out passing games.”

Moorpark, ranked 10th in California, is allowing 280.7 yards a game and is virtually impenetrable on the ground (80.1 yards allowed a game).

That doesn’t make Cerritos Coach Frank Mazzotta sleep comfortably.

The Falcons, ranked 19th, use a one-back offense with either freshman Corey Kelley or sophomore Charles Ephriam. Kelley has rushed for 1,007 yards and 11 touchdowns. He is the sixth Cerritos player to rush for 1,000 or more yards in a season. Ephriam has rushed for 706 yards.

“We haven’t been able to throw the ball consistently,” Mazzotta said. “We’ll have to throw the ball a little just to keep them (Moorpark defenders) off our backs.”

The Raiders, on the other hand, definitely will throw.

Quarterback Damian Delfino passed for a team single-season record 1,764 yards and 11 touchdowns to help the Raiders stay afloat after season-ending injuries depleted their running game, forcing Moorpark to pass more often.

His primary target has been wide receiver Isaiah Mustafa, who has a school single-season record 66 receptions and 1,086 yards.

“We have to stop the wideout (Mustafa),” Mazzotta said. “He’s their premier guy but we have to be careful of their running game. . . . I’ve been impressed with how they run the ball.”

Mazzotta said the Falcons will be without starting tackle Matt Nichols (6 feet 5, 260 pounds) and starting free safety Ramsey Alexander.

Both were lost for the season because of torn knee ligaments in a 24-20 victory over San Diego Mesa on Nov. 5.

“We are kind of licking our wounds,” Mazzotta said.

Bittner, however, is the wrong guy to ask for sympathy.

He lost two starting running backs--Cory Bowen and Kris Kirksey--to injuries early in the season. Gary Clemons, who had rushed for 521 yards, suffered a season-ending broken foot last month.

The Raiders now rely on freshmen Reginald Wilkes (320 yards in 88 carries) and James DeCarriere (114 yards in 32 carries), and Bittner says they figure prominently in his plans today.

“We’ll have to establish enough of a running game,” Bittner said. “Then their safeties have to be concerned with the run and they can get hurt deep.”