The Santa Barbara Vaqueros (4-2, 3-1 Western State Conference North Division) will ride into town on Saturday to battle the Bakersfield College football team in an important contest for both teams.
“Santa Barbara is first in the conference on defense; the defense is probably the strength of their team,” BC head coach Jeff Chudy said. ” Our conference is competitive, and we have to take one game at a time.”
The Renegades (4-2, 3-1 WSC North Division) hope to make it two victories in a row as they traveled to L.A. Harbor on Oct. 15 and stomped the Seahawks on their home field, 49-7.
“BC offensive lineman Larry Norton said the win was important because of the one-point loss to College of the Canyons two weeks ago.
“We came back from a tough one-point loss and got a big win on the road,” Norton said.
Jeff Fielder, BC tight end, echoed the sentiments.
“It was a good comeback after a tough loss,” Fielder said. ” We showed that we can win and what we can do offensively.”
With the 1-2 punch of J.R. Rogers and Le’Andre Matthews, BC used the running game to move the chains and score often. The duo racked up 364 yards and by halftime the scoreboard showed 28 points for the guests and 0 for the home team.
The BC offense didn’t produce much in the passing game, but they didn’t need to with the running game working so efficiently for the ‘Gades. Tajiddin Smith, BC wide receiver, who is currently leading the conference with yards per catch, spent most of the evening blocking for his teammates.
“It was an overall better team effort,” Chudy said. “We moved the ball on offense and made some big plays. We played pretty good as a group.”
Even though the ‘Gades produced most of their yardage on the ground, Peregrin did manage to add 95 yards to his stash of 1,485 yards and 3,442 career yards and is currently state leader.
Peregrin also got things rolling for the ‘Gades early in the first quarter as he connected with fullback Joel Venegas on a 5-yard pass for BC’s first six points, kicker Nathaniel Berk added the point and BC led 7-0. Rogers put the next three scores on the board for BC as the dynamic freshman rushed for 174 yards (203 for the game) and scored touchdowns of 62, 10 and 23 yards.
In the second half, BC used the ground game to chew up the clock but was productive as well as the ‘Gades notched 21 more points. With 4:18 left in the third quarter, Matthews exploded for a 71-yard touchdown run, adding to his total of 161yards on 14 carries for the game. Peregrin showed some mobility as he added a 7-yard quarterback keeper early in the third quarter and Eric Velez scored from 2 yards out making the final point tally 49 for the ‘Gades, matching their biggest point game of the season when they scored 49 against L.A.Pierce.
The Seahawks (2-4, 1-3 in the WSC South) did provide a little excitement for the home fans as they managed to score on a Keith Lockwood 7-yard run with five minutes left in the third quarter to avoid a shut out.
While BC’s offense controlled the game with a potent ground game, the defense shut down the Seahawk offense, allowing only 74 yards on the ground. Harbor’s starting quarterback Sean Flynn, who has sparked the Seahawk offense with 800 passing yards this season, did not play. However, Harbor did rack up 198 yards passing against the stubborn BC defense that wasn’t giving up much.
“The defense did a great job tonight,” Kenny Calvin, BC defensive secondary coach, said. “It’s nice to see guys play together, have fun and get the win on the road.
The ‘Gades reeked havoc in the Harbor backfield as they intercepted three passes, recovered a fumble and sacked Lockwood and company numerous times.
BC defensive back Omar Hill was tough on the Seahawk offense all game and intercepted a key pass when Harbor was driving to score.
“I was in the right place at the right time,” Hill said. “I made the read, which had a lot to do with making the play.”
With 12 seconds left in the contest, the ‘Gades were flagged for three major penalties including a pass interference call with no time left on the clock.
“I have never seen or been involved in a game where three major penalties were called in the last 12 seconds,” Calvin said.
The game against Santa Barbara should be a great matchup as both teams have identical overall and conference records (4-2, 3-1) and both teams need to win. Game time is 7 p.m. at Memorial Stadium.