The Bakersfield College Renegades defeated Santa Monica College (0-3) 43-0 to keep their unblemished record to 3-0 (2-0 in conference) with the conference road win.
With two impact halfbacks out with ankle injuries, Andre Smith Jr. and Eric Jones were unable to fulfill their duties behind the line of scrimmage. Smith is reportedly “week-to-week,” according to BC coach Jeff Chudy, while Jones is set to return on the road at El Camino Sept. 26.
Renegade quarterback Logan Kilgore was near perfect as he completed 15-for-16 for 240 yards and three touchdowns. Kilgore added his own 1-yard rushing touchdown in the second quarter after a 62-yard, 11-play possession in five minutes, five seconds.
“Kilgore was somewhat in the zone, he threw some nice passes and that will certainly benefit us as the season progresses,” said BC coach Jeff Chudy.
BC had 22 first-downs total, while Santa Monica only had eight. BC rushed for a total of 459 yards compared to Santa Moncia’s 104 yards.
BC coach Jeff Chudy relied on three halfbacks at Santa Monica: Julian Dean-Johnson, who ran for 74 yards and led rushers on only seven carries and a touchdown, Ben Estill, who ran for a total of 71 yards on 19 carries, and Keldon Hampton, who ran for 58 yards on eleven carries.
For BC receivers, Rishar Matthews and Will Randle led the team with five receptions and 77 yards each. Rishar scored two touchdowns against Santa Monica.
In the first quarter, BC’s Joseph Bertrand picked off Santa Moncia’s Zachary Scribner, who completed only eight of his 27 passes, thanks to BC’s defense who sacked the quarterback twice. Bertrand’s interception led to BC’s first score of the night – a field goal kick from Santa Moncia’s 7-yard line from Brian Duboski with 1:12 left in the first quarter.
Chudy realizes that the team is young and look to improve over the season.
“By no means are we perfect, we still have some things we need to clean up and work on,” said Chudy. However, Chudy added, “For the most part, defensively we’re consistent. Any time you get a shutout that’s certainly a feather in your cap. Our guys played hard and played inspired.”
Chudy talked about the wins in the season and facing high-ranked El Camino.
“For where we’re at in the season, we’ll take 3-0, no question about it. We still have to get better. El Camino is going to be a huge challenge for us. They’re the number one rated team in the country, which doesn’t mean a whole lot other than they got some good players.”
Chudy reflected on past games to the upcoming Sept. 26 game.
“The last three times we played them, the game has come down to the last play of the game. We need to give our best effort if we’re going to do it against the best talent we play against so far. I think our guys will arise to the occasion.”
The Renegades’ defense helped the offense by allowing no points against Santa Monica.
Bakersfield College 55-7 over L.A. Valley College solidified their first conference win at home.
Kilgore went 5-for-13 in completions, but the Renegades relied heavily on the running game against L.A. Valley. Estill carried the ball 18 times for 144 yards and scored one touchdown. Eric Jones ran for 84 yards on 10 carries but suffered an ankle injury during the game, marking the Renegades’ second impact injury in the first three games.
Hampton also carried the ball and had ten carries for 26 yards. Kilgore scored two of his own rushing touchdowns on quarterback sneaks in the red zone for three yards.
Chudy talked about Andre Smith’s injury impacted the team, “Andre not playing hurts our football team but we were fortunate to play L.A. Valley and come away with a big-sized win.”
However, Chudy sees proud players on his team currently.
“Our guys have some pride now. We don’t talk about shutouts and we don’t talk about statistics. We talk about getting off the field [on defense] in three plays and we’re starting to develop a sense of pride in who we are,” said Chudy.
Chudy talked about how different defensively the team is this season.
“We’re a little bit older. Maturity and playing time depends on how fast you play. We’re playing faster on defense because we have a lot of guys that played as freshmen and they got a lot of playing time.”
Chudy added, “Those guys are older, they played more and that was an advantage for us. We have some depth on the defensive line and with the addition of freshmen here and there, those guys are going to create some havoc. We just got get them to keep doing it. The more we can hit them in the mouth, the better.”
Practices for the Renegades are vital according to Chudy and how he picks his starters, as he proclaimed, “Practices for us are like quizzes and Saturdays are like the final exam. If you have somebody who is struggling in your quizzes during the week, chances are that the final exam part we’re not going to experiment with guys that are making mistakes in practice.”
The Renegades travel to Torrance Sept. 26 to play unbeaten El Camino (3-0) in a non-conference match up. The Renegades return home Oct. 3 to play Pasadena.