After a bye on Oct. 6, it will be back to business this week for the No. 1-ranked Bakersfield College football team as they prepare to take on Citrus College in Glendora on Saturday.
The game time has been moved to 2 p.m. because of a scheduling conflict at the Citrus facility. Even though BC has knocked off the last three opponents by wide margins, the Renegades will face some tough opponents in the upcoming weeks.
“The second half of the season is tough,” said Jan Stuebbe, BC athletic director. “We will face some very good teams and Citrus is one of them. We have to take one game at a time and be prepared to play. We have great coaches that will do what they need to do to keep us focused.”
The Owls are 3-0 in the Western State Conference and 4-1 overall. They present a balanced attack, according to Jeff Chudy, BC head football coach.
“They are a good football team, well coached on both sides of the ball,” he said. “We need to have four good days of practice this week and keep focus on what we need to do to get the job done.”
The Renegades (5-0, 3-0 WSC) were definitely focused against Los Angeles Harbor on Sept. 29 as they leveled the Seahawks 49-10. It was total domination by the BC offense in the first quarter as the Renegades racked up a 28-0 lead with a good balance of run and pass.
Running back Pat Patterson was dynamic in getting the ground game established for BC as he rushed for three touchdowns in the first half; two in the first quarter of two and 10 yards and a 5-yard touchdown run in the second quarter.
Patterson led all rushers with 111 yards on 16 carries. Bruce Frieson also contributed to the Renegade ground attack as he scored on a 47-yard run in the second quarter and notched 87 total yards to his credit.
With the running game intact, the BC offense was able to open up the passing game in the first quarter. Quarterback Jacob Bower connected on a 25-yard strike to wide receiver Attrail Snipes for six of the 35 first-half points. Bower completed 14 passes for 200 yards in the contest.
The Seahawks did manage to score 10 points in the first half, as quarterback Andrew Trudnowski completed a 6-yard touchdown pass to Kevin Hodrick and Daniel Torres nailed a 33-yard field goal.
BC led 35-10 at the half.
There was very little offensive production in the second half, but the BC defense once again did its part in making things happen.
One of those things happened when defensive lineman Daniel Calvin intercepted a Harbor pass halting a Seahawk drive. It was one of the plays of the game and showed just how talented the BC defense is.
“We’re pretty good, but we stay humble about it,” linebacker Daron Mackey said. “We practice hard and try to keep the pressure on offenses.”
As far as the Citrus game, Mackey said, “It’s going to be a pretty good game. Come out and watch us. That’s what we’re out there for.”
Against Harbor, BC added the final two scores to the game, as freshman Justin Jackson had touchdown runs of 5 and 1 yard.