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Passing marks

BY JEFF EVANS , Californian staff writer | Saturday, Oct 24 2009 11:48 PM

Last Updated Sunday, Oct 25 2009 12:15 AM

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John Harte / Special to The Californian Bakersfield's Yul Hawkins made a big play for the Gades at the end of the first half, tripping up Glendale's Jorge Chaidez just long enough for teammate Tanner Webb to finish the tackle and keep Chaidez out of the endzone. BC came up with an interception by Webb on the next play to close out the half. CQ

John Harte / Special to The Californian Logan Kilgore unloads his 80-yard touchdown pass in the first period Satuday at Glendale College. Bakersfield led big at the half, 28-3. CQ

John Harte / Special to The Californian Ben Estill follows the block of teammate Gareth Brown to pick up yardage against the Glendale Vaqueros at Glendale College Saturday night. CQ

GLENDALE -- Glendale College obviously focused on stopping the Bakersfield College ground game Saturday night.

But the Renegades didn't miss a beat. They simply went to a passing game that turned out to be dominant.

Quarterback Logan Kilgore threw for 294 yards and four touchdowns, and the Renegades forced five turnovers in a 49-3 win over Glendale.

The Renegades (7-1) remained in first place with a 4-0 Northern National Conference record. Glendale (3-4, 0-3) lost its fourth straight game.

The only negative was a potentially serious right knee injury suffered by sophomore defensive lineman standout Maurice Hayes, who was hurt with 7:46 left in the third quarter and was carried off the field. His leg was in a brace and he was on crutches by the end of the game.

"Mo's not just a great player but he is an infectious personality," said BC coach Jeff Chudy. "He's a guy our football team clings around. He gets everyone together. He's one of the spirited leaders of our football team. We're just praying like heck it's nothing serious."

It was already 35-3 when Hayes was injured after his foot stuck in the artificial turf and he was knocked to the ground.

The Renegades had put the game away behind a serious of big plays.

It started when Glendale's opening possession ended with a punt, and Vince Van Horne returned it 66 yards to the Vaqueros' 28-yard line. On the first play from scrimmage, Kilgore hit a wide open William Randle on the goal line for a touchdown.

"Van Horne set the tone with that punt return," Chudy said.

Said Van Horne: "We have a gerat defensive punt return team. I returned punts in high school (at Bakersfield High). I loved it, and I love it at BC."

Glendale's next drive reached the BC 31 before Chika Madu intercepted a deflected pass. Two plays later, Kilgore hit tight end Nathan Stevens with a perfectly thrown pass near midfield. Glendale linebacker Joey Orlandini went for the interception but missed the ball. That left Stevens behind the defense with a wide open field in front of him. Moments later he was in the end zone to finish the 80-yard play.

"We knew those plays would be big all week," Kilgore said. "Coach Dean (offensive coordinator Carl Dean) did a great job drawing those plays up. It was a good night."

Kilgore hooked up with Rishard Matthews on a 31-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter, then placed a perfectly thrown pass into Van Horne's hands that turned into an 88-yard touchdown play with 13:45 left in the game.

BC also had three touchdown runs, a 3-yarder by Kilgore, a 10-yard run by Keldon Hampton and a 1-yard run by Julian Dean-Johnson.

"The game plan was awesome," Chudy said. "Carl and the rest of the offensive coaches did a great job preparing. The big question was: Could we pick up the rush? Everybody stepped up."

Kilgore was not sacked and rarely was hit after he threw by the Glendale rush.

"It starts with protection," Chudy said. "We kept the hat on everybody. We found the right guys. it was a well designed game plan and our guys executed it to a 'T'."

Glendale moved the ball throughout the game, finishing with 443 total yards. But two lost fumbles and three interceptions doomed any chance of the game staying close.

BC had only 10 yards in penalties, by far a season best.

It was the most points allowed by Glendale this season. The Vaqueros entered the game ranked 11th in Southern California in scoring defense, allowing only 18 points per game. And they ranked first in pass defense at 121.8 yards per game. The Renegades had 108 yards after only three plays from scrimmage.

"Their defensive backs are good players," Kilgore said. "Hats off to our 0-line to protect, our backs picked everything up and our wide receivers did a great job the whole time catching the ball."

BC hosts Ventura next Saturday at 7 p.m. in Memorial Stadium.