Bakersfield College Football (2-0) beat Chaffey College (0-2) 45-35 in their home opener at Memorial Stadium Saturday on the stregnth of an offensive explosion led by Derrick Vickers' three touchdowns and 289 multi-purpose yards.
"I have to give the credit to my blockers. I'm not getting those yards without them hitting their spots and opening big holes for me, or without the coaches calling the plays like they did," Vickers said.
Vickers picked up 181 yards and his three scores via rushing, and his fellow Bakersfield High School alumn LaMeshio Hill ran for 100 yards on 23 carries including a nine yard scoring run that tied the game at 14-14 in the second quarter.
BC got on the board when quarterback Dalton Gallis fired a 15 yard touchdown pass to Jasmit Thind. It was the first score of the game, and "Jazz" Thind's first collegiate touchdown.
Jacob Young's extra point attempt was blocked, and Chaffey took the lead on a 37 yard pass and catch from Richard Rice to Daniel Garcia.
Chaffey blocked a field goal attempt and converted it into a short touchdown to take a 14-6 lead, but Hill's touchdown and a successful two point conversion by Ferguson Ayers set the stage for Chaffey's final lead of the game.
Rigoberto Luna hit a 33 yard field goal to make it 17-14, but BC quickly responded with a seven play-65 yard touchdown drive that ended with a nine yard touchdown pass from Gallis to Ayers to make it 21-17 BC.
Another Luna field goal with just three second left in the first half made it 21-20, and that was as close as Chaffey would get to BC for the rest of the game.
Vickers exploded in the fourth quarter, scoring two touchdowns in the first three minutes of the final period before breaking off a 26 yard endzone jaunt that was the coup de grace for Chaffey and BC's final score of the game.
Gallis completed 20 of his 28 pass attempts for 253 yards and two touchdowns, an improvement over last week's effort against Allan Hancock where he completed about 50 percent of his passes and threw an interception.
Jakell Tomlin built on the brilliance he flashed last week against Allan Hancock by pulling down six passes for 120 yards.
BC's defense weathered Chaffey's multi-faceted rushing attack that racked up over 300 yards on the ground their 48-41 overtime loss to Citrus last week, but mistakes kept the game from being a BC blowout.
"I think the defensive line did a really good job, and the coaches made some good adjustments...they kept the QB in the pocket, and he didn't like that. He made some plays happen with his athleticism early on, but the adjustments took the QB out of his comfort zone," Bakersfield College livestream color commentator Kirk Bowyer said.
Mason Saba contributed an interception for the 'Gades as well.