The Bakersfield College football team made it back-to-back road victories as it traveled to Los Angeles Valley College on Sept. 24 and outscored the Monarchs 47-23.
The victory over LA Valley wasn’t quite as easy as the previous week as the Renegades pounded LA Pierce in the first of the road games, 49-3, on Sept. 17.
The Monarchs (0-4) presented somewhat of a challenge for the BC defense because of a testy passing game that managed to tally 407 yards.
“Valley always presents a challenge for us,” Jeff Chudy BC head coach said.
“But we played well offensively in this game, did much better against the blitzing defense and did what we had to do to get the win.”
Even though the ‘Gades played better, they suffered a key injury as kicker Jose Martinez may be out for several games with a partial tear of the medial collateral ligament in his right knee.
“The loss of Martinez is huge,” Chudy said. “He is probably the best kicker in the state and is highly recruited by major colleges. He has been stellar for us this season because of his consistency in the kicking game.”
However, the offensive production against Valley was not lost as the ‘Gades put up over 40 points on the board for the second week in a row and freshman running back J.R. Rogers assaulted the Monarch defense for 218 yards and four touchdowns.
Rogers got things rolling for the ‘Gades in the first quarter as he dashed 57 yards down the sideline to score, Martinez kicked the extra point and BC took the lead 7-0.
The ‘Gades showed even more offensive firepower as quarterback Thomas Peregrin tossed a 43-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Tajiddin Smith with 8:23 left in the first quarter. Martinez made it 2 for 2 on extra point attempts, and the ‘Gades led 14-0.
“We prepare for each team differently,” Peregrin said. “Against Valley we did a lot of things right offensively, and things worked for us.”
Martinez nailed a 27-yard field goal a minute and eight seconds later and BC was up by 17 points midway through the first quarter.
But Valley would not be denied a score in the first quarter.
With a little firepower of its own, quarterback Troy Jackson pitched the ball to wide receiver Franco Stasilli who delivered a 39-yard touchdown strike to wide receiver Marquis Powell to get the Monarchs on the scoreboard.
The extra point was good by place-kicker Christian Guardado and Valley was back in the game, 17-7.
The Monarchs continued to move the ball in the second quarter and looked to be driving for another touchdown, but the ‘Gades turned it up a notch on defense and forced Valley to settle for a 22-yard field goal by Guardado, making the score 17-10.
Three minutes later, the ‘Gades put seven more points on the board to make the score 24-10 when Rogers scored his second touchdown of the night from 10 yards out and Martinez added the extra point. Rogers had 133 yards on 12 carries in the first half.
BC would add the final points of the first half when Peregrin ran the ball into the end zone on an 11-yard bootleg, Martinez made it 4 for 4 and the ‘Gades led 31-10 at the half.
Jackson did have an impressive performance in the first half for the Monarchs as he completed 21of 40 pass attempts for a whopping 249 yards.
The third quarter was a defensive battle as the only points that would be allowed would be those posted by Martinez. The impressive kicker added his second field goal of the night on a 25-yarder to put the ‘Gades up 34-10 before going out of the game with injury.
In the fourth quarter the scoring was even.
Valley would be the first to score in the final quarter as Jackson completed a 4-yard touchdown pass to Stasilli, the conversion failed but the Monarchs edged a bit closer 31-16.
Then Rogers scored his third touchdown of the game on a 2-yard run and BC led 40-16.
Valley moved the ball down the field on its next possession and scored on a 1-yard run by Abel Herrera, the kick was good by Guardado making the score 40-23.
Rogers would add the final nail in the coffin as he exploded for a beautiful 60-yard run, kicker Nathaniel Berk added the point and the final score would read 47-23.
The bright spot for the winless Monarchs would be the passing of Jackson as he completed 38 of 68 for 368 yards.
“We put a couple of hits on him (Jackson),” said BC defensive end Miguel Paramo Jr.
“We had to stop Valley from scoring from the air. We just kept applying pressure to stop him.”