After suffering a tough loss at the hands of Mt. SAC, the Renegades were able to respond with a victory over Fullerton College on Sept. 15.
Bakersfield College improved to 2-1 on the young season with a 31-17 victory by outgaining the Hornets 344-195. BC controlled the ball for 17 minutes more than Fullerton and also ran 79 plays to only 44 by Fullerton.
BC controlled the game behind 260 total rushing yards, and running back Jalen Sykes had 157 of those rushing yards and one touchdown on 30 carries. Running back Curtis McGregor also had 80 rushing yards and one touchdown on 20 carries.
The Renegades defense responded with a great effort against Fullerton.
After giving up 320 total rushing yards to Mt. SAC, it only gave up 195 total offensive yards to Fullerton.
“I think we answered the challenge,” said BC coach Jeff Chudy.
“We wanted to tackle better on the defensive side, and I thought we did a nice job there. Offensively, we challenged our offensive line to knock them off the ball.
“We challenged our backs and those guys did a great job. We controlled the clock, didn’t turn it over and I’m really proud how we played.
“I think [Sykes] ran extremely hard and he kind of redeemed himself because he had some blown blocking assignments against Mt. SAC, and he answered the bell.
“That’s what we expect out of those guys. The cream rises to the top when they get challenged, and he did a nice job.”
He added that they had a lot of challenges coming into this game, and he explained that they answered them including the defense.
“The issue for our whole defense was to tackle better, to swarm to the ball and I think they did a real nice job,” he said. “They popped one big run on a stunt that we ran right by the ball, but other than that I thought our guys contained.
“They were gigantic up front and I thought our guys did a nice job getting off blocks and swarming to the ball.”
The game started off slow in the first quarter with both teams trading field goals, but in the second quarter BC was able to start to win the battle in field position. Then, Sykes and the BC offensive line started to impose their will on Fullerton.
BC took its first lead behind a 19-yard touchdown run by Sykes and never relinquished the lead after that.
On their second touchdown, the Renegades started at their own 8-yard line, and they ran 17 plays, until running back Curtis McGregor capped off the drive with a 5-yard touchdown. That gave BC a 17-3 lead, but Fullerton was able to respond by scoring a touchdown before the end of the half. In the second half, BC took control of the game thanks to its defense, only giving up one first down in the third quarter, and that didn’t allow the Hornets to get back in the game.
While the offense continued to run the ball and put the game away by scoring two more times.
“I thought I did pretty well,” said Sykes.
“There were a few times that I thought I should’ve made a different cut than what I usually did, but I feel overall I did pretty well for myself. It was a real good bounce back from that last week. Our offensive line played real well and our defense stepped up. Everything went well because of the offensive line.
“They play a huge role on our team, and once we get them going the whole team gets going.”
Chudy added that the game plan coming in was not to run the ball as much as they did, but to take what Fullerton gave them.
“We were going to take what they gave us, and our guys were able to execute the game plan,” he said.
“Players gotta play. As coaches, we challenge them, and we try to put them in the best possible spot, but at the end of the day they gotta play, so I’m excited how they responded.”
He added that he wants them to clean up the penalties, and to do a better job covering kicks.
BC is scheduled to play at Ventura College on Sept. 22.