Smith, Renegades run over Fresno CC
| Saturday, Sep 05 2009 11:05 PM
Last Updated Saturday, Sep 05 2009 11:17 PM
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Felix Adamo / The Californian BC running back Ben Estill gets a gain up the middle againt Fresno.
Felix Adamo / The Californian BC defensive back Eddie Coronado reaches for the loose ball after the Renegade defense busted up a Fresno pass play. The ball fell incomplete.
Felix Adamo / The Californian BC's Andre Smith gets to the outside and continued on to a 79 yard touchdown run. Wide receiver Rishard Matthews comes in to help with an early block. Smith had two touchdowns in the first half.
The new-look Bakersfield College Renegades opened their season impressively on Saturday night.
Facing a Fresno City College team ranked 13th in the state, the Renegades' defense kept the Rams off-balance and the Bakersfield offense showed diversity in a 33-14 win at Memorial Stadium.
Sophomore running back Andre Smith broke off touchdown runs of 79 and 17 yards in the second quarter to key a 21-0 halftime lead. He finished with 177 yards on 18 carries.
There was a scare in the fourth quarter when Smith was hit hard and crumpled to the ground. BC coach Jeff Chudy said Smith suffered a slight ankle injury and added that the injury was not serious.
While BC gained 457 yards in total offense, the defense limited Fresno to 188. And the Renegades did not let Fresno quarterback Emmanuel Lewis do very much damage.
One year ago, Fresno beat the Renegades 31-25 with Lewis throwing for 270 yards and scrambling for 48 more. Lewis had only 139 passing yards and minus-8 net rushing yards Saturday.
"We played great team defense," Chudy said. "We had guys running around, knocking people down."
It started with the defensive front, where the Renegade D-line dominated. Added pressure came from blitzes.
"We were not going to let him sit back," Chudy said. "Last year we made the mistake of rushing the minimum amount. We had guys who had their back to the ball and he made some big plays."
Chudy added: "We kept the pressure on him and made him eat the ball a few times."
Lewis was forced to give BC two points on a safety when a bad snap from center sailed over his head and into the end zone. Lewis kicked the ball out of the end zone to prevent a potential defensive touchdown for BC.
Offensively, if Smith wasn't doing the damage, it was running back Ben Estill, who had 96 yards on 19 carries.
Logan Kilgore, in his BC debut at quarterback, was 11-of-20 for 140 yards, with two touchdowns and two interceptions. The TD passes were a 5-yard first-quarter pass to tight end Vince Misa-Amituanai and a third-quarter 6-yard pass to Vince Van Horne.
BC had a 271-87 edge in total yards in the first half.
The Rams scored in the third quarter on an 11-yard pass from Lewis to tight end Shawn Pimentel. Antoin DeWalt's 31-yard run with 13:38 left in the game gave the Rams their other touchdown.
BC plays host to Los Angeles Valley next Saturday.
