The Bakersfield College football team (3-1) will travel to Valencia on Saturday to face the College of the Canyons Cougars in a tough road test for a young but determined Renegade squad.

The game against the Cougars will require a solid performance by the ‘Gades if they hope to win like they did against the visiting Monarchs of Los Angeles Valley on Sept. 23. BC stomped on Valley, 37-10, in a Western State Conference game to improve to 2-0 in the WSC standings.

Curtis Cornelson, who has played consistently in the first four games and is a defensive team leader, said BC has grown more as a team in the last two contests even though the offense has sputtered at times.

“We just have to play together as a team,” Cornelson said. “We have some younger guys that are learning the system and we have to gel.”

BC’s offensive production was impressive in the first half as the ‘Gades lit up the scoreboard with 28 points.

After the Monarchs scored on a 21-yard field goal by kicker Rene Renteria, BC got busy.

With 3:24 left in the first quarter, quarterback Daniel Hoff completed a 43-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver T.J. Lee, kicker Teddy Dellaganna kicked the extra point and the ‘Gades took a 7-3 lead.

BC’s next score came early in the second quarter when running back J.R. Rogers scored on a 4-yard run, Dellaganna added the extra point, and the ‘Gades were up 14-3.

The Monarchs played well on defense, but it wasn’t enough to keep the BC passing attack out of the end zone.

On BC’s next offensive possession, Hoff tossed a 40-yard touchdown bomb to wide out Attrail Snipes, Dellaganna kicked his third extra point of the contest and the ‘Gades led 21-3.

Hoff completed 6-of-9 passes for 172 yards in the first half, but sputtered a bit in the second half, as he completed one pass and had two interceptions.

“We definitely need some more work on offense,” Hoff said. “I threw two interceptions, and we were out of sync in the second half.”

However, the Renegade running game seemed to gain some momentum against Valley as Rogers scored two rushing TDs and Eric Velez had a nice touchdown run of 17 yards to add BC’s fourth touchdown of the first half. Dellaganna added his fourth extra point of the half, and BC was up 28-3.

The Monarchs showed some life in the final 37 seconds of the first half when quarterback Alex Ritthamel found wide receiver Raymond Johnson wide open and Johnson scored from 37 yards out.

Renteria’s kick was good and the score read 28-10 at the break.

The second half scoring belonged to BC. Rogers scored his second touchdown of the night on a 1-yard run; Dellaganna made it 5-for-5 on extra point attempts.

The only other score came when BC scored two points on a safety.

A good defensive effort forced Valley to bat the ball out of the end zone and give up two points instead of a turnover in the end zone that would have given the ‘Gades six more points.

The Renegade defense once again flexed its muscles in this game.

The Monarchs top rusher, Anthony Dickson, was held to less than 50 yards and the running game only managed 67 total yards.

“Cornelson got us going,” BC defensive lineman Daniel Calvin said. “He told us we need to play Renegade defense and come together as a team.”

This was the second victory in a row for the ‘Gades as they defeated the Los Angeles Pierce Brahmas, 23-16, on Sept. 16.

Even though BC played a great first half and won the game, they played poorly in the second half.

The ‘Gades jumped out to a 12-point lead in the first quarter when Hoff connected on a 12-yard pass to Lee and Rogers scored from 11 yards out. Dellaganna’s first extra point attempt was blocked but the second attempt was perfect.

The Brahmas put the next points on the board when linebacker Galen Osborne intercepted a Hoff pass and sailed into the end zone.

Kicker Josh Mamon added the extra point and Pierce was within five points.

With 4:42 left in the second quarter, Hoff scored from 1-yard out and Dellaganna kicked the extra point to make the score 20-7 and that would be the score at the half.

The defenses played tough in the third quarter as the only points mustered were two field goals by Dellaganna, one of 32 yards and one of 24.

BC travels to Valencia on Saturday for a 7 p.m. game against College of the Canyons.