For the Bakersfield College football team, the season-opening game against Fresno City College was a tale of two halves.
After being down by a score of 20-3 at halftime, the Renegades battled back with a 63-yard touchdown pass from freshman quarterback Nick Gauthier to freshman receiver William Randle but fell short as they were defeated by Fresno 31-25 on Sept. 6.
“The biggest issue we had was getting off the field on defense which meant that our offense wasn’t on the field long enough. We gave up too many big plays,” head coach Jeff Chudy said.
One example of not being able to get off the field and giving up huge plays was witnessed late in the fourth quarter when Fresno faced a third-and-16 deep in their own territory with the Renegades trailing 28-25.
Fresno freshman quarterback Emmanuel Lewis hit receiver Dontrell Lee for an 81-yard pass. The long pass play set up a field goal for Fresno that made the score 31-25.
Lewis finished 11-for-22 for 279 yards with one touchdown.
After Fresno kicked a field goal, the Renegades got the ball back with 4:04 remaining in the game. But on first down, BC quarterback Nick Gauthier threw an interception on a deep pass.
“He (Gauthier) did a nice job of managing the game. He did a pretty good job for his first college game. He’s going to get better as the season goes on,” Chudy said.
Gauthier went 11-for-22 for one touchdown and one interception. Gauthier also added a one-yard rushing touchdown.
Chudy feels that despite the mistakes his players made that they can bounce back and learn from the game against Fresno.
“We all have a lot to learn. Are we capable of righting the ship? Sure we are. Are we capable of being a really good football team? Sure we are. We had a lot of guys who got educated tonight,” said Chudy following the game.
Chudy said, “We’re going to get better we’re going to eliminate those mistakes. Most of the mistakes we made were more mental than physical. They (the players) are disappointed, but I think they are eager to get back to it. I think our players are going to rally to the occasion and get ready to roll.”
The Renegades next game will be Sept. 13 at LA Valley, while their next home game will be Sept. 20 against El Camino at 7 p.m.
Fresno had 435 net yards while the Renegades had 327. BC converted only 4-of-10 on third down conversations while Fresno converted 9-of-15 third down attempts.
BC sophomore running back Bruce Frieson had 17 carries for 128 yards. Fresno receiver John Romeus had four catches for 55 yards and a touchdown.