After winning its season opener against Santa Ana, Bakersfield College’s football team suffered a crushing defeat against perennial power Mt. SAC on Sept. 8.
BC lost to Mt. SAC 34-14 behind 320 total rushing yards from the Mounties.
“I think we were a little inconsistent,” said BC coach Jeff Chudy. “We came out and jumped on them early, but we just didn’t take advantage of the turnovers we created.
BC forced three interceptions on Mt. SAC quarterback, Nick Montana. Montana is the son of Hall of Famer Joe Montana. When BC took away their passing game the Mounties resorted to running the ball. They amassed those 320 rushing yards and four rushing touchdowns collectively as a team. Mounties running back, Jamal Overton, had 95 of those rushing yards and two of the touchdowns.
“We’ve played them a lot over the years, and predominantly they pass the ball, but when we took the passing away they started running the football,” he said.
“I think Mt. SAC did a nice job of combination blocking and we had some alignment issues and at times some tackling issues. It’s easily correctable we just gotta get it done.”
BC capitalized early in the game with a 75-yard interception return for a touchdown by cornerback Mercy Maston. That gave BC an early 7-0 lead, but when it went into the second quarter it was all Mt. SAC. The Mounties outscored the Renegades 20-0 in that quarter and took control of the game as the Renegades only managed to score once more.
After throwing for 370 yards in the season opener, BC’s quarterback Brian Burrell just threw for 177 yards, one touchdown, one interception and was sacked five times. BC’s running back Jalen Sykes had 77 yards on 12 carries. The bright spot from the Renegades came from a couple of defensive players. Linebacker Grant Campbell had 13 tackles and nine of them were solo tackles, and cornerback Alfonso Jackosn garnered defensive player of the week honors for week 2. He had four tackles and two interceptions in the game.
“I think it’s awesome,” said Jackson on being named defensive player of the week. “I worked really hard for it so I think it’s good. I think the defensive line good job getting to the quarterback, and allowed me to have a good game.
“We have to start to focus on the run a lot more and just everything overall.”
BC wide receiver Brock Martin, who had six catches and 120 yards receiving against Santa Ana, got injured during a kickoff return against Mt. SAC. Chudy added that his abscence didn’t affect the offense.
“Our guys have stepped up to the plate and done a nice job,” said Chudy. “It’s a team sport. Somebody goes down the next person up has to get it done. We’ve missed him, but our guys have done well.”
“The first game I don’t think [Burrell] got sacked once, but this game he got sacked five times,” said Chudy. “That’s too much pressure. We blew our protections way too often. I think Burrell can only do so much. He’s only gonna be as good as the guys protecting him. We did a below-average job protecting him, and it was just our lack of getting it done. They didn’t do anything that we didn’t practice against,” he said. “It was a lack of execution, and when you don’t execute in this game your going to have issues. If you can’t block on the offensive side and tackle on the defensive side you’re not going to win many games, so we got to play better.”
BC is scheduled to play next at Fullerton College on Sept. 15.