El Camino adds to BC's struggles
| Saturday, Oct 29 2011 11:06 PM
Last Updated Saturday, Oct 29 2011 11:08 PM
Californian staff writer
TORRANCE -- Bakersfield College hit the low mark of its football season Saturday night.
Falling short in every area, the Renegades allowed a game-opening kickoff for a touchdown and things went downhill from there in El Camino's 31-7 National Northern Conference win at Murdock Stadium.
The loss was the fourth straight for the Renegades, who fell to 3-5 overall and 0-3 in the NNC and saw any chance at a postseason bowl berth vanish. Southern California Football Association Commissioner Jim Sartoris has said in the past that only teams with above-.500 records are eligible for bowls, and BC can only reach .500 by winning its final two games. El Camino is 7-1 and 2-1.
BC has lost four straight in the same season for the first time since 1984 when it dropped five straight. The Renegades also lost five straight over two seasons when they dropped their final three games in 1985 and then their first two in 1986.
A 16-yard touchdown pass from BC quarterback Brian Duboski to wide receiver Brandon Hobdy on fourth down with 4:39 left in the game prevented BC's second straight shutout loss.
"No one is happy with how we're playing right now," BC coach Jeff Chudy said. "It's a collective team effort."
Quarterbacks are often in the crosshairs when teams are struggling and Duboski acknowledged that's just the way it is.
"I'm the most critical person about myself," said Duboski, who was 19-of-42 for 197 yards. "I left passes (incomplete) I should have made. My job is to make the hookups."
Duboski had 11 incomplete passes where he either under-threw or threw behind open receivers. But he also was victimized by no fewer than four dropped passes by wide open receivers.
"Quarterbacks too often get too much of the credit when things are going well and too much of the blame when they're not," Chudy said. "It's not one guy on the offensive side to blame."
For the second straight week, BC had no consistent ground attack. Jalen Sykes, who had a streak of four straight 100-plus yard games snapped in last week's 13-0 loss at Ventura, had only 31 yards on 14 carries. BC had only six net rushing yards as the El Camino defensive line collapsed the BC offensive line at the point of attack all night.
And then there were special team problems, an area that is usually a strength for the Renegades.
It started on the first play when Jarrad Shaw took the opening kickoff straight up the field and blew right past defenders on the 92-yard return.
The Warriors' final touchdown, a 10-yard pass from backup quarterback Cole Webb to Jeremi Anderson that made it 31-0, was set up by a blocked punt that gave El Camino a first down at the BC 18.
Defensive mistakes helped the Warriors on their other three scoring drives.
Running back Ridky Johnson's 2-yard TD run made it 14-0 with 8:33 left in the first quarter. That capped a 74-yard drive that featured a 70-yard pass completion to Luckner Brady on a blown coverage that put El Camino at the BC 3.
Donald Jarrin's 34-yard field goal with two seconds left in the first half was set up by a short drive that began at the BC 38 after the Renegades were called for interference on a fair catch attempt.
The Warriors' other score, an 8-yard TD pass from starting quarterback Omar Herrera to Shaw, capped an 85-yard drive that was kept alive when BC was called for roughing the passer on an incomplete pass on third down that would have forced an El Camino punt.
Making Chudy even more frustrated by that score was the pass sailing through the hands of a BC defender in the end zone. The ball appeared to have been deflected, but Shaw still managed to make the catch at the back of the end zone.
BC's final home game is next Saturday vs. Cerritos.
