'Gades by a foot: Gallington's FG lifts BC in Golden Empire Bowl
| Sunday, Nov 22 2009 03:19 PM
Last Updated Sunday, Nov 22 2009 10:44 PM
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Henry A. Barrios / The Californian B.C.'s #44 Ben Estill gains tough yards on the ground against Hancock in the Golden Empire Bowl at Memorial Stadium in Bakersfield.
Henry A. Barrios / The Californian B.C. # 8 Rishard Matthews evades Hancock's defender #26 Matthew Grijalva for a long gain in the Golden Empire Bowl.
Henry A. Barrios / The Californian B.C.'s #5 Vincent Van Horne scores a touchdown late in the 4th quarter for the chance to tie the game in the Golden Empire Bowl against Hancock. He caught another pass on the 2 point conversion to tie the game.
Henry A. Barrios / The Californian The B.C. team start the celebration as a field goal goes through the uprights with no time left breaking a tie game with Hancock and making B.C. the Golden Empire Bowl winners.
Henry A. Barrios / The Californian B.C.'s # 8 Rishard Matthews makes a reception for a big gain late in the 4th quarter as Hancock's # 9 Greg Watson defends in the Golden Empire Bowl Saturday.
Henry A. Barrios / The Californian B.C. #18 Yul Hawkins stops Hancock's #19 Daniel Rudolph after a reception and keeps him from making a 1st down on a 4th down play in the Golden Empire Bowl
Henry A. Barrios / The Californian B.C.'s #44 Ben Estill gains tough yards on the ground against Hancock in the Golden Empire Bowl at Memorial Stadium in Bakersfield.
Henry A. Barrios / The Californian B.C.,s #30 Montreal Harris has total concentration as goes up to make a one handed catch while Hancock's defender #26 Matthew Grijalva can only watch the reception in their game in the Golden Empire Bowl in Bakersfield.
Henry A. Barrios / The Californian B.C. # 8 Rishard Matthews evades Hancock's defender #26 Matthew Grijalva for a long gain in the Golden Empire Bowl.
Henry A. Barrios / The Californian B.C."s #44 Ben Estill lifts the ball as he crosses the goal line for a touchdown in the Golden Empire Bowl against Hancock.
Henry A. Barrios / The Californian B.C.'s #5 Vincent Van Horne scores a touchdown late in the 4th quarter for the chance to tie the game in the Golden Empire Bowl against Hancock. He caught another pass on the 2 point conversion to tie the game.
Henry A. Barrios / The Californian B.C.'s #80 Nathan Stevens, foreground, and #14 Will Randle, background, celebrate with #5 Vincent Van Horne, after Van Horne caught a touchdown pass late in the 4th quarter in the Golden Empire Bowl against Hancock
Henry A. Barrios / The Californian The B.C. team start the celebration as a field goal goes through the uprights with no time left breaking a tie game with Hancock and making B.C. the Golden Empire Bowl winners.
Henry A. Barrios / The Californian The B.C. team start the celebration as a field goal goes through the uprights with no time left breaking a tie game with Hancock and making B.C. the Golden Empire Bowl winners.
Henry A. Barrios / The Californian B.C.'s # 8 Rishard Matthews makes a reception for a big gain late in the 4th quarter as Hancock's # 9 Greg Watson defends in the Golden Empire Bowl Saturday.
Josh Gallington said he had never kicked a last-second, game-winning field goal when he was interviewed by The Californian two weeks ago.
Now he has.
Gallington, a redshirt freshman from Bakersfield Christian High, kicked a 22-yard field goal as time expired Saturday evening, giving Bakersfield College a 24-21 Golden Empire Bowl win over Allan Hancock before 7,253 in Memorial Stadium.
"I never expected to kick a game-winner in the Golden Empire Bowl. Not at all," said Gallington, California's regular-season JC kick scoring leader.
The win advances the Renegades (10-1) into the Southern California semifinals next Saturday against Mount San Antonio (10-1), which beat L.A. Pierce 69-31 later Saturday night. Fullerton downed L.A. Harbor 49-19 and sixth-seeded Palomar upset No. 3 Cerritos 31-17 in other games.
The Renegades had to rally from a 21-13 deficit with less than seven minutes left in the game.
Hancock (9-2) had a chance to extend its eight-point lead midway through the fourth quarter when the Bulldogs drove from their 1-yard line to a first-and-goal at the BC 8.
But the Renegade defense stiffened. Hancock, facing a fourth-and-goal from the 3, missed a 19-yard field goal attempt by Nathan Stein that hooked wide left with 7:01 left.
Given new life, BC quickly capitalized, driving 80 yards in three plays.
Wide receiver Vince Van Horne made a brilliant 28-yard touchdown catch in the back of the end zone on a pass from Logan Kilgore. That made it 21-19 with 6:14 left.
Attempting BC's first two-point conversion of the season, Kilgore rolled to his right and lobbed a pass into the end zone. Hancock cornerback Jovan Davis was in position for an interception, but Van Horne somehow maneuvered around Davis to pull in the pass that tied the game.
"I stepped in front of him and took it out of his hands," Van Horne said. "Adrenaline took over. I got super strong and took it away from him."
Said Kilgore: "I really couldn't find anything. He (Van Horne) has the best hands I've ever seen. I basically gave him a chance to make the play, and he did."
BC coach Jeff Chudy said: "Van Horne: what can you say about that guy? He makes things happen. He's a clutch player."
There were more heroics to come.
Hancock got a quick first down in its next possession, then faced a third-and-8 from the BC 47. The Renegades got a huge break when the snap landed at the feet of Hancock quarterback Gunnar Jaspersen, causing a broken play that went for no gain and forced a punt.
The 44-yard punt was caught at the 3-yard line by Rishard Matthews, the game's MVP who returned it 49 yards to the Hancock 48 with 3:27 remaining. He earlier had punt returns of 67 and 17 yards to set up BC scores.
"Once we had the ball on the 50-yard line, we just wanted to get it into Josh's range," Chudy said.
Gallington earlier had field goals of 22 and 38 yards. The game-winner was his 16th straight successful field goal.
"After we got that (Van Horne) TD, I said, 'OK, get the ball back, wind the clock down and I can kick it," Gallington said.
Chudy called Matthews' punt returns the difference in the game.
"If you look at those punt returns and the points we got off them and where it put us, that was probably the thing that tipped the scales in our favor," Chudy said.
"I've got to give credit to our whole team," Matthews said. "I had good blocks. The whole punt return group did a great job."
BC running back Ben Estill was the offensive MVP with a game-high 116 rushing yards on 24 carries, with 90 of those yards coming in the final 3:52 of the third quarter and the fourth quarter.
For Hancock, Ryan Anglin had 106 yards on 23 carries and quarterback Gunnar Jaspersen had TD runs of 2 and 5 yards.
BC caught a break when Hancock's bruising running back Thomas Sua missed the fourth quarter after aggravating a left ankle injury late in the third quarter.
Sua was Hancock's TD leader and had a huge fourth quarter against BC on Oct. 10 when BC held on to win 31-24 in game not decided until the final two seconds.
