Both the Bakersfield College Renegades and the Antelope Valley College Marauders used multiple quarterbacks in their third game of the season at Memorial Stadium on Sept. 18, but for very different reasons.

The Renegades defeated AVC 63-7 behind a 42-0 halftime lead.

BC, now 3-0 on the season, started Lyle Negron at quarterback as usual, but, by the end of the second quarter, the game was well in hand for the Renegades.

They put up 42 points by the time the quarterback change was made for Byron Campbell with 2:57 left in the half. Negron went 5-for-8 with 53 yards and two touchdowns, while Campbell went 8-for-11 with 92 yards.

The Marauders, now 0-3 on the season, had serious problems at quarterback.

Usual starter Josh Firm started the opening drive by throwing an interception to Dillon Meadows in the first minute of the game. On the next possession, Firm dropped back to pass and threw another pick, this time to Zach Vasquez.

During the third possession, Firm threw back-to-back passes into the hands of BC defensive back Tyler Dogins, but Dogins dropped both chances for the interception.

After the wild string of plays, AVC called a timeout and made the quarterback switch. But the change made no difference to the state-ranked No. 5 Renegades.

The Renegades forced turnover after turnover and three-and-out after three-and-out while BC scored on 7 out of 15 possessions. Two of those possessions came at the end of the half and the end of the game as BC just ran the clock away.

Special teams and turnovers helped the Renegades blow by AVC with rotating halfbacks, and punt returner Leandre West was doing most of the damage.

West returned five punts for 234 yards and one score.? His largest two returns came at the end of the first quarter when he went 66 yards to the four-yard line, setting up Julian Dean-Johnson for the score. The next was an 86-yard scamper for a touchdown with 11:54 left in the second quarter.

After the game, head coach Jeff Chudy spoke about how well his team performed, and West’s big day.

“Obviously we created a lot of turnovers, and we made some things happen in the kicking game,” said Chudy. “Lee West was kind of just what we thought he was going to be, so it was a great team win. I’m really proud of our guys.”

The 63 points are the most given up by AVC since 2002 when they were defeated by Grossmont College 66-7. It was also the third largest margin of defeat for the Marauders.

Chudy mentioned how practice is making perfect for the Renegades.

“At the end of the day, you’re going to play how you prepare, and our guys have been preparing extremely hard all week,” said Chudy. “The challenge that we had was [sustaining] momentum, and to develop some consistency, and I think we did that.

“We capitalized on the energy that we built up from the Saddleback win. We played a really good fourth quarter and I was proud of the way our guys came out this week and last.”

The Renegades had six running backs and three quarterbacks rush for 182 yards and four touchdowns. Andre Smith and Dean-Johnson led the first half with 55 yards and a touchdown each.

Smith is nine yards away from becoming the 25th player in Renegade football history to have 1,000 yards on the ground, but Smith, along with Dean-Johnson, did not play after the first quarterback change at the end of the first half.

West, Derrick Jenkins and Jawuan Caldwell carried the load the rest of the game gaining 99 yards, with West and Caldwell getting a touchdown each.

On Sept. 11, the Renegades defeated Saddleback College 41-24 and were led by Negron, who threw for 170 yards, one touchdown on 15-for-32 pass attempts and 21 runs with 80 yards and one touchdown.

The next two games for the Renegades have them traveling to Citrus College on Sept. 25, and then back home to face off against state-ranked No.1 Mount San Antonio College on Oct. 2.

“We have Citrus and that’s a tough game usually for us, because it’s hard to play down there at their place. They were 1-0 going into this thing and they play Canyons tonight, so it’s going to be a challenge for us,” said Chudy.

“We’re going to have to stack it up, and we talked about being consistent. It’s all about consistency, and our guys have to come back and practice their tails off,” said Chudy.