After giving up a 58-yard touchdown from Mount San Antonio College’s Nick Lamaison to receiver Richard Parham with 11:30 left in the second quarter, the Bakersfield College Renegades stared at a 21-0 deficit with more than 8,600 in attendance staring at them.
The Renegades brought the game to within eight twice at 21-13 and 28-20, but they couldn’t get any closer, eventually losing to the defending state champs and nationally ranked No. 1 Mounties 34-20.
After two early second-quarter scores from Mt. SAC, the state-ranked No. 2 Renegades drove the ball down the field and got their first points of the game with a 45-yard check down pass from Lyle Negron to running back Julian Dean-Johnson with 10:30 left in the second quarter.
Although Negron connected on that play, he missed on several others, prompting head coach Jeff Chudy and the Renegades to switch things up and bench Negron for backup Byron Campbell.
“We were struggling all over the place, there were a lot of personnel issues. Obviously the quarterback position takes way too much blame and at the end of the day. We’re trying to change momentum,” said Chudy. “Momentum is a tough thing to get in this sport, especially when you’re playing a good team.
“When you’re inconsistent it’s hard to develop any kind of continuity, any kind of momentum, and we struggled.” ?
Negron would go 5-for-15, while Campbell would end up 9-for-20, both with one interception.
BC’s defense forced a fumble – recovered by John Oglesby – and put up three more points on a Josh Gallington 31-yard field goal to close the first-half scoring 21-10 Mounties.
The Renegades opened up the second half with a drive resulting in a 39-yard field goal from Gallington and then a defensive stand ending up with a missed field goal from Mt. SAC’s Jeremy Brown.
This sequence of plays had BC down 21-13 with possession in Mounties territory and the chance to draw even. The possession started with a 26-yard connection to Brandon Hobdy from Campbell, but ended with two incomplete passes and another BC punt.
The teams would trade touchdown for touchdown, then punt for punt leaving the score at 28-20 Mounties.
In the fourth quarter, with just under 11 minutes to play, Mt. SAC would add a field goal to make the score 31-20.
On the Renegades next possession, they burned their final timeout to avoid a penalty for delay of game at the 9:50 mark, but they would turn the ball over three plays later on a Campbell interception.
Chudy talked about the miscues the Renegades were having.
“There’s enough inconsistency to go around for everybody, and I’ll be the first guy to take the blame. I’m not going to point fingers at anybody else. We didn’t get ready to play at the level that we needed to play at, and at the end of the day, that’s on me,” he said.
Mt. SAC would add another field goal on its next possession, while BC couldn’t put up another score. The Mounties would run the clock down and walk away with the win. Mt. SAC improves to 5-0, while BC drops to 4-1 overall.
After the game, Chudy talked about what his team struggled with early and often.
“They converted on third down and a bunch twice a couple times. The quarterback scrambles and we missed tackles. It’s indicative of how the game went. I think our effort was outstanding; we just didn’t execute well enough to get it done at the end of the day,” he said. “I have to look in the mirror and say, ‘Why didn’t we do that?’ And we’re going to have to right the ship.
“I think we have a group of kids that are capable of playing at a high level, but we didn’t play at our highest level. We knew going into this game, that we would have to execute at a high level and we just couldn’t get it done.”
Lamaison threw for 398 yards and one touchdown on 22-for-38 passing, and Mt. SAC running back Bryce McBride ran the ball 27 times for 92 yards and one touchdown.
“[Lamaison] made good choices. We rushed six and a half guys and they did a good job of protecting him. You have to give them credit. They did a good job of scheming us, and they did a nice job of getting their guys prepared to play. We struggled and their coaches and players got it done when they had to,” said Chudy.
The Renegades get a bye week before traveling to Allan Hancock on Oct. 16 for their first conference matchup of the season.
“We struggled with everything that we tried to do. Defensively, we have to tackle better and offensively we have to block people. We’re inconsistent with our snaps, and that’s a lot of our issues too. Collectively as a group we have to get better,” said Chudy.