Drillers storm back to beat Liberty
| Saturday, Oct 04 2008 02:53 AM
Last Updated Friday, Mar 27 2009 02:46 PM
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Bakersfield High's Emmanuel Alexander picks up yards against Liberty in an SEYL battle Friday at BHS.
Surely, the interception with nine minutes left would cripple Bakersfield High, and if not this one, the one with eight minutes left would do the job.
Two three-and-outs later, the Drillers still had life.
But the lost fumble with six minutes left? That one hurt.
Nah. The Drillers, using about their ninth life, forced a Liberty fumble on the next play, then recovered another of their own fumbles en route to a touchdown and a 17-10 victory Friday at Griffith Field in the Southeast Yosemite League opener for both teams.
"When you turn the ball over five times (actually six, including a botched field goal snap), I don't think you're supposed to win," BHS coach Paul Golla said. "But we did. We escaped."
Bakersfield (2-2, 1-0 SEYL) had erased a 10-0 fourth-quarter deficit when Craig McMahon hit a low kick through the uprights from 36 yards out -- a career long -- to force an improbable tie with 1:21 to play.
"We practiced over and over that if we make mistakes, we keep the sideline tight and we need to get the defense hyped," BHS running back Jerek Johnson said. "That's what we did."
Liberty, which lost a 19-7 fourth-quarter lead in its season opener, received the ensuing kickoff with one timeout, but instead of settling for overtime, the Patriots (1-3, 0-1) came out throwing. Emmanuel Alexander picked off Liberty quarterback Dylan Slaton on his third pass, setting up BHS for victory.
"That's bad judgment by me," Liberty coach Tony Mills said. "My gut instinct was to play to OT and I didn't. I'm a game manager, and I'm disappointed that I'd make a mental mistake like that."
Runs by Irving Gant and Peter Welsh set up a four-yard TD run by Alfonso Jackson -- his longest run of the game -- with 21 seconds left to give Bakersfield the win.
"I had a lot of joy, a lot of happiness," Johnson said.
By what Golla called a "razor-thin" margin, BHS avoided its third straight loss and instead took early control of the SEYL race. The Drillers had lost close games at Stockdale and to Clovis-Buchanan in the past two weeks.
"That's just Driller tradition," Alexander said. "We lose a game, we've got to bounce back, every time."
The Drillers trailed 10-0 at the start of the fourth quarter but quickly shaved the deficit to three with Alex Mitchell's 20-yard touchdown pass to Cooper Damron.
Then, after a wild turnover battle -- five of the game's 10 turnovers were in the fourth quarter -- BHS got the ball at its own 17 with 5:18 left, a tribute to its defense, which held the Patriots to 51 yards in the second half and forced four turnovers.
"We're so excited we played great defense," Golla said. "We are a great defensive unit, and we haven't seen that in three weeks. So we're excited the kids played really well."
Jerek Johnson, who finished with 83 yards, scampered for eight yards and then -- surprise -- lost the ball, only to somehow fall on it before the Liberty defense did.
"I don't know what it was, but we kept fumbling," Johnson said. "I have no idea."
Then, mixing runs from Johnson and Welsh, plus a 23-yard pass from Mitchell to Alexander, BHS slowly worked its way down until it was in position for McMahon's long field goal.
Miss it, and all of that mistake-dodging would be for naught. But make it, and the Drillers would finally be tied, with a chance for an improbable victory.
The kick barely cleared the Liberty defense and wobbled slightly as it cleared the crossbar. No, it wasn't pretty, but what in this game was?
"Today we talked about life; there's going to be setbacks," Golla said. "But every setback is an opportunity to show your courage."
