BC Drumline warms up the crowd during the week two win over Chaffey
Posted: Sep 24, 2016
The Bakersfield College Football Team (2-1) is rebounding from a road loss to a deep Riverside (3-0) team filled with out of area talent that the likes of which they probably won't see again during the regular season. But today they face LA Harbor (1-2) and they've got plenty of ways to get at the Renegades.
"Riverside was a great lesson in how a defensive line or O line can dominate a game; those units were dominant, and they owned both sides of the ball, but Harbor is a completely different story," Head Coach Jeff Chudy said, "From an offensive perspective they spread you out while running and passing the ball pretty evenly."
Chudy feels like they've prepared well and have a plan.
"When we are on defense, we have to avoid giving up big plays. They have weapons that can make things happen. They have a good kickoff return guy, so this will be a good challenge for us," Chudy said.
The Renegades have seen promising results from all-purpose weapon Derrick Vickers and quarterback Dalton Gallis, but they don't operate in a vacuum.
"Harbor is a pressure defense, and that means we've got to get 'hats on hats' when it comes to blocking and executing assignments. We've got to utilize our strengths to protect the quarterback and ballcarriers so they can make things happen," Chudy said.
Offensive Coordinator and o-line coach Carl Dean echoed Coach Chudy's sentiments.
"I talk every week about how it's not our opponent, it's our level of improvement. I don't care who the opponent is; the question is how do we execute the gameplan? We didn't do that last week. Our goal this week is to improve," Dean said, and part of that will come from his big men up front.
"What Harbor does defesively is bring pressure and blitzes from the edge and their safeties so the challenge for us up front is to see those and react," Dean said.
Gallis bounced back from a mixed start to open the season-which the quarterback himself called "awful"-to carving up Chaffey College for 258 yards and two touchdowns while completing 20 of 28 pass attempts.
"I definitely think he has improved, but he needs to have a good game for us to do well. He's had a good week of practice, and I think he'll be ready to go," Dean said.
The kicking game has had it's struggles over the first three games, and that could also be a factor if the Renegades cannot build a sizeable lead going into the fourth quarter. An inability to put away Hancock and Chaffey in weeks one and two prevented Chudy from getting reps for young players who aren't starting now, but due to the inevitable nature of injuries in college athletics, will almost certainly find themselves in a critical situation as the season progresses.
"We have two years with players in community college, so the cycle is tight. And those young players are our future and we want to develop them and give them opportunities," Dean said.
Kickoff against LA Harbor is at 6p in historic Memorial Stadium.