Buchanan's pass attack beats Drillers
| Friday, Sep 25 2009 11:19 PM
Last Updated Saturday, Sep 26 2009 12:08 AM
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Buchanan's Jake East, right, and Bakersfield defender Silas Nacita share possession of a Lance Orender pass during the first quarter of their game on Friday in Clovis. Buchanan was awarded possession of the ball at the end of the play.
Clovis-Buchanan quarterback Lance Orender gets away from the Bakersfield pass rush during the first quarter Friday in Clovis.
Clovis-Buchanan quarterback Lance Orender gets rid of the ball before being tackled by Bakersfield's Peter Welsh during the first quarter Friday in Clovis. The shovel pass was complete to Alex Wood for a gain of 27 yards.
CLOVIS -- Extra defenders? Fishing nets? Trip-wires?
There has to be some way to stop the Clovis-Buchanan passing offense. But whatever it is, Bakersfield couldn't find it in a wild 56-41 loss at Veterans Memorial Stadium on Friday night.
Buchanan quarterback Lance Orender finished with an eye-popping line: 27-of-40 passing for 509 yards and six touchdowns. More important, he led the Bears to five touchdowns on their first five second-half possessions to pull away from the Drillers.
"He did a great job of reading coverage, and we knew it," Bakersfield coach Paul Golla said. "Now, I shouldn't say we made him look better than he is, because he's the real deal, but we did make some mistakes."
In particular, Golla rued the handful of times a Driller tried to jump a slant route and wound up in front of an open receiver. Orender slipped in a pass for a long gain more often than not. Golla said he counted three dropped interceptions and too many missed tackles to count.
Still, Bakersfield (2-1) kept up for nearly three quarters, getting three huge touchdown plays from Alfonso Jackson -- runs of 71 and 85 yards in the first half and a 79-yard reception in the second -- but eventually ran out of ammunition against the Central Section's biggest gunslinger.
Bakersfield had plenty of stars, too. Jackson finished with 176 rushing yards on just eight carries, six catches for 107 receiving yards and four total touchdowns. Quarterback Brian Burrell was 18-of-29 for 248 yards and two touchdowns.
Jackson's second touchdown run gave the Drillers a 21-7 lead in the second quarter on a consensus top-three team in the section. But Buchanan responded like a No. 1 team.
Orender hit Seth Moranda for a 59-yard touchdown on a slant. Then, after a three-and-out, Orender led a six-play drive -- long for this quick-strike offense -- that ended with his 9-yard option keeper to tie the game at 21.
Orender's receivers also had enormous totals. Jake East had seven catches for 231 yards and two touchdowns. Moranda finished with nine catches for 186 yards and three scores.
Turnovers hurt Bakersfield for the third straight game. They had four, three interceptions from Burrell and a Jackson fumble. The first pick came with the Drillers driving with the score 21-21, and Buchanan responded quickly.
For the third time in the half, Orender found Moranda on a long slant play, this one going for 41 yards, a touchdown and a lead that the Bears (3-0) wouldn't relinquish.
The teams traded touchdowns on their first four second-half possessions, with the average scoring play going for 39.5 yards.
Finally, the Drillers broke after a bit of misfortune. They sacked Orender on a second-down play, and he fumbled. But Buchanan's Alex Wood, who also ran for 104 yards, jumped on the loose ball. On the next play, Orender hit East over the middle for an 86-yard catch-and-run, extending the lead to 49-35.
Bakersfield went three-and-out on its next drive, and when a bad punt snap went over punter Silas Nacita's head, Buchanan had a short field and quickly made it a three-score game.
Bakersfield scored once more -- on Jackson's second TD reception -- but couldn't get any closer. They drove to the Buchanan 20 with just more than a minute left, but Kenny Castle intercepted Burrell on fourth down and returned it all the way to the Bakersfield 3-yard line.
"We turned the ball over, but we felt really good about our offense," Golla said.
Unfortunately for the Drillers, so did Buchanan, which with the win likely secured home-field advantage for whichever team wins its Tri-River Athletic Conference over Bakersfield or any Division I team from Kern County. The Bears had a 751-548 edge in total yards.
"We're going to go back and watch film, and it's going to be, 'Wow, we dropped that, or we missed that tackle,'" Golla said. "It's razor-thin ... but great teams make things happen, and we didn't make it happen tonight."
