Bakersfield College’s football team defeated College of the Canyons 45-35 on Nov. 12, ending a season marred by injuries and the unfulfilled expectations of a postseason berth.
The team finished with a 4-6 record and just 1-4 in conference play.
There is often a turning point in a team’s season that someone can look to if the season spirals down or up in terms of success.
Brian Duboski, the starting quarterback for eight of the team’s 10 games, thinks that his team’s turning point was back-to-back losses against top-ranked Mt. San Antonio College and then-sixth-ranked Allan Hancock College.
“We put up a great fight and probably should have won both those games,” Duboski said. “I think after those two tough letdowns, it seemed like we did fall into a little quicksand emotionally.”
Of those two games, Duboski said that the game against Allan Hancock took the most out of the team’s morale.
“Collectively as a team it was a big letdown because it was the first [conference] game, and it seemed as a team we were pretty confident and we felt like if we play the way we know how to, we should win the game,” he said. “It just seemed after that game, things didn’t go our way offensively as a team.”
Offensive coordinator Carl Dean said that it is hard to point to one game as being a turning point but does agree that it hampered the team’s morale and led to the losing atmosphere that he thinks is “contagious.”
“It’s tough when you play two games like that when you’re in a position to win it and you don’t come out on the winning side,” Dean said. “But at the same time, each week we need to come ready to play.”
After the Allan Hancock game, BC wouldn’t win again until the game against Canyons.
The team’s defense allowed 25.9 points per game during the season, up nearly four points from 2010.
“We did have to play catch up,” Duboski said. “But at the same time we expect to put points on the board, and just like the defense expects us to put points up on the board, we expect them to make stops. That’s just having trust in your teammates.”
The defensive unit did have its bright spots and had a lot of standouts.
Linebacker Keylon Hollis finished the year with 12.5 sacks for second most in the state.
Duboski struggled often and finished the season with 1,374 yards through the air with 11 touchdowns and 11 interceptions, completing 47.3 percent of his passes. He also scored four touchdowns on the ground.
“I never questioned anything about the offense or the system,” Duboski said. “So I thought it was a good fit and it complemented my skill set, just sometimes we weren’t able to execute at times.
“And maybe that’s why people would question the offense and why we can’t get things going,” he said. “I’ve been at BC for the last two seasons now, and I knew what the system was about and I knew what the coaching staff demanded as far as what they wanted out of the quarterback position.”
Wideout Brandon Hobdy finished the year with 54 catches for 709 yards and five touchdowns. Hobdy established himself as the number-one wide receiver early in the season when he was catching passes from Brian Burrell, who Duboski replaced in the team’s week-three win against Antelope Valley College.
BC’s biggest issues on the field came on third down. The Renegades converted just 36 percent of their third-down attempts, failing to stay on the field and allow the defense to rest, while the defense had trouble getting off the field themselves, allowing opponents to convert 43 percent of third downs.
With the high expectations that come with playing at BC where the average crowd more than triples that of the teams the Renegades play, a 4-6 season is no doubt a letdown.
“We never accepted losing,” Dean said. “As a coaching staff, we never wanted to do that, but losing is contagious and when you kind of get into a mode of losing and things don’t go the way you want them to, it can certainly feel [like it’s lingering]. That’s not something we want around here, that’s for sure.
“We do have high expectations and you expect to win every week and you expect to put a good product on the field.”
Duboski thinks that the team will come back better than ever in 2012 and that the win at Canyons will be thought of as a turning point for success for the freshmen on the team.
“I feel like that winning experience with all these young guys on the team will go a long way,” he said. “I feel like they will be a force to be reckoned with.”
Dean agreed with the talent in the freshman class, but knows that a successful season won’t come easy.
“For [the freshmen], next season starts now,” Dean said. “The success of our season next year certainly is dictated now by how they prepare.”
Dean also expects Brian Burrell to be the starting quarterback next season. Burrell, who scored four total touchdowns and passed for 587 yards in the team’s first two games before going down with a broken collarbone, has been cleared to start lifting in the weight room and throwing on the practice field according to Dean.
The season, though, brings more than just wins and losses, at least for Duboski.
“It’s been a great feeling and a great time,” he said. “You never want to lose those games, especially those close games that we lost. But just knowing that I finally got my opportunity to play and live out my dream will resonate forever.
“It’s definitely been a season of memories that I won’t forget.”