Renegades use big plays on special teams in victory over Pierce
| Saturday, Sep 04 2010 11:06 PM
Last Updated Saturday, Sep 04 2010 11:06 PM
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Bakersfield College wide receiver Loren Kolb catches a pass in the end zone for a touchdown despite the best efforts of Pierce College's Ryan Middleton during Saturday night's game at Bakersfield College. The Renegades won with a final score of 52-41.
Pierce College linebacker Jake Minster bulldozes into Bakersfield College quarterback Lyle Negron during Saturday night's game at Renegade Stadium.
A Bakersfield College defender helps Pierce College wide receiver Damon Julian to the ground during Saturday night's game at Memorial Stadium.
Pierce College defenders come at Bakersfield College quarterback Lyle Negron from every direction during Saturday night's game at Memorial Stadium.
Saturday was a rough night for the defenses in Memorial Stadium.
Bakersfield College utilized crucial plays on special teams to set the tone and held off Los Angeles Pierce College 52-41 in the season-opener for both teams.
The Renegades' defense was pushed up and down the field by a Pierce squad that finished with 601 yards of total offense, with 33 first downs.
Pierce had its own problems defending the Renegades, particularly on special teams.
Andre Smith opened the game with a 31-yard kickoff return to set up the first score, a 19-yard field goal by Josh Gallington. Smith later went 95 yards on another kickoff to the Pierce 3-yard line, with freshman running back Lee West scoring on a 3-yard run moments later.
Those plays keyed a 31-17 halftime lead for Bakersfield, and Julian Dean-Johnson added a 94-yard kickoff return for a touchdown in the third quarter.
And putting an exclamation point on BC's special teams play was Tyler Dogins, who picked up a fumble on a kickoff return by Pierce's Clifford Johnson and went 30 yards for BC's final touchdown.
That made it 52-27. Pierce scored twice more, but that only made the final score more respectable.
Pierce's defense, led by linebacker Brandon Reeves who seemed to make the tackle on every play, held the vaunted BC running game in check. The Gades only had 147 rushing yards, and Smith -- the most highly touted of BC's runners, was limited to 33 yards on 12 carries.
Dean-Johnson had only 53 yards on nine carries and quarterback Lyle Negron had 61 yards on 11 attempts.
Pierce's two quarterbacks put up big numbers. Exavier Johnson, a Division I bounce-back from Utah State, was 20-of-29 for 193 passing yards and starter Clinton Granger was 8-of-15 for 141 yards.
It was 10-10 after the first quarter before BC went ahead to stay in the scond quarter behind two touchdown passes.
Loren Kolb was involved with both of them. With BC facing a fourth-and-10, Pierce's noseguard jumped offsides as the ball was snapped. Given a free play, Negron threw the ball to the goal like, and Kolb came down with it with two defenders around him for the score.
With the first half winding down, BC faced another fourth-down play at the 33. This time, Negron threw a lateral to Kolb, who took two steps forward, stopped and lofted a pass toward Brandon Hobdy, who was 15 yards behind the defense. Hobdy cautiously looked the ball into his hands and jogged into the end zone.
Hobdy, a freshman wideout from Texas, also caught a 6-yard TD pass from Negron early in the second quarter.
That touchdown was set up by a great defensive play by defensive back Dillon Meadows. Pierce's Kenny Davis was punting out of the Brahmas' end zone and decided to try and run for a first down. Meadows had to fight off a block and then had to make a solo tackle before Davis could reach the first-down marker. Davis was tackled at the 7, and the Negron-to-Hobdy TD pass followed two plays later.
BC also got a break when Pierce's Steven Sandoval apparently made a 39-yard field goal only to have the officials throw flags for what they thought was 12 men on the field against the Brahmas. After meeting, the officials waved off the flag, and Sandoval's re-kick was blocked.
BC 52, L.A. Pierce 41
L.A. Pierce College (0-1) 10 7 10 14--41
Bakersfield College (1-0) 10 21 7 14 --52
First quarter
BC--FG Gallington 19, 9:04
P--Playter 1 pass from E.Johnson (Sandoval kick), 5:02
BC--West 3 run (Gallington kick), 4:40
P--FG Sandoval 38, 1:55
Second quarter
BC--Hobdy 6 pass from Negron (Gallington kick), 11:34
BC--Kolb 33 pass from Negron (Gallington kick), 4:42
P--Lopez 2 run (Sandoval kick), 2:00
BC--Hobdy 33 pass from Kolb (Gallington kick), 0:54
Third quarter
P--Lopez 54 run (Sandoval kick), 12:28
BC--Dean-Johnson 94 kickoff return (Gallington kick), 12:16
P--FG Cano 52, 3:41
Fourth quarter
BC--Negron 1 run (Gallington kick), 14:01
BC--Dogins 30 fumble return (Gallington kick), 13:47
P--Harris 17 pass from Granger (Sandoval kick), 12:18
P--Julian 11 pass from E.Johnson (Sandoval kick), 2:13
