Drillers upended
| Saturday, Sep 27 2008 03:09 AM
Last Updated Friday, Mar 27 2009 02:48 PM
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Bakersfield High's Alfonso Jackson leaps high to avoid Clovis-Buchanan tacklers in first quarter action at Griffith Field on Sept. 26.
There were big plays on offense and defense. There was athleticism, momentum shifts and more big plays.
But, in the end, there was another loss for frustrated Bakersfield High.
A week after a shocking loss at unheralded Stockdale, the defending Central Section champions looked more like themselves but came up short again, losing 41-34 to Clovis-Buchanan on Friday at Griffith Field.
"What's disappointing to me is that I felt the kids played with great emotion," Bakersfield coach Paul Golla said. "I don't think we got that last week. This week, we played good enough to win. But we had three or four breakdowns defensively."
Buchanan quarterback Lance Orender completed his first seven passes of the second half for 124 yards as the Bears scored on three straight possessions -- including a 94-yard kickoff return from Preston Argenbright that gave them the lead for good at 35-28 with 6:21 to play in the third quarter.
"They have so many weapons," Bakersfield junior Alfonso Jackson said. "They're really good."
Bakersfield (1-2) had its fair share of big plays, too -- Jackson (106), Jerek Johnson (129) and Peter Welsh (119) all went past 100 yards rushing -- but for the second straight week, the Drillers were hurt by penalties. They committed 14 for 99 yards.
"That's exactly where you start," Golla said. "I don't know how anybody in the country could come back from that many penalties."
In a 14-14 game, Buchanan (3-0) wasted a second-and-goal from the Bakersfield 1-yard line when the Bears' other quarterback, Taylor Genuser, fumbled on a naked bootleg. Bakersfield responded in championship fashion, when Jackson ran for a thrilling 83-yard touchdown two plays later, sprinting up the sideline before beating the Buchanan secondary across the field.
"I just hit the hole, like coaches had been telling me all week: 'Hit the hole and go,'" Jackson said. "I felt like I had turned the game around, but we couldn't stop them."
The Drillers' lead would only last through halftime. Orender, who finished 17-of-24 passing for 292 yards, hit Stephen Johnson for a 6-yard score to even the game less than two minutes into the third quarter. Then, after a Bakersfield three-and-out, Argenbright ran for a 29-yard score to give Buchanan the lead.
BHS answered with Alex Mitchell's 4-yard swing pass to Irving Gant to tie the game, but the Drillers never answered Argenbright's kickoff return.
"We threw the ball well at times ... and (the return) was a big turning point," Buchanan coach Mike Vogt said. "We just happened to pop one at the most opportune time.
"But they made big plays, too. This was a great high school football game."
Buchanan's Genuser was 2-of-2 for 61 more passing yards, and Corvaughn Archie caught 12 passes for 256 yards.
As for Bakersfield, it's back to the drawing board once more. The Drillers are hoping this year is more like 2007, when an early loss fueled a championship run, than 2006, when a couple of non-league defeats snowballed into a x-x season.
"We don't talk much about winning and losing," Golla said. "Our goal is to win the Valley. For us, it's just about getting better every single snap."
