Moorpark’s Win Sets Up Showdown at Bakersfield

It hardly seems possible that anyone could look forward to a trip to Bakersfield.

On the entertainment scale, that trip ranks somewhere between a journey to Barstow and a weekend in Fresno. But Moorpark College’s football players nonetheless may have had Bakersfield on their minds Saturday.

Moorpark, looking to set the stage for a battle of unbeatens this week against Bakersfield, turned in a cautious, workmanlike, 20-7 win over L. A. Southwest in a Western State Conference game at Moorpark.

The Moorpark defense put together a bend-but-not-break performance that kept Southwest out of the end zone until the fourth quarter. On offense, Coach Jim Bittner turned the ball over to his groundhog running backs on 45 of Moorpark’s 62 plays.

The game was not decided until the final quarter, yet it seemed over at halftime.

“Offensively we just got a little too conservative,” Bittner said. “To us, everything was at stake. We wanted to go into Bakersfield undefeated, and this game could have been a real stumbling block.”

As usual, Freddie Bradley was MC’s hammer, rushing for 154 yards in 22 carries and scoring all three Moorpark touchdowns--on runs of one, 58 and six yards.

“I think Bradley sets them apart from everyone else,” Southwest Coach Henry Washington said.

Bradley opened the scoring with a one-yard plunge late in the first quarter, completing a 12-play, 75-yard drive on Moorpark’s first possession.

Bradley scored again midway through the second quarter when he ran 58 yards north by Southwest. Bradley broke into the secondary, cut right and fended off a Southwest defender with a straight arm to clear the way into the end zone.

Southwest (1-3, 0-3 in WSC play) closed the gap early in the fourth quarter. Quarterback Craig Manigo, who completed 14 of 31 passes for 189 yards, hit Robert Avery with a 30-yard touchdown pass. The conversion made it 14-7, but Moorpark (4-0, 3-0) iced the game on its next possession.

Bradley began the drive with a 27-yard run, caught a 17-yard pass from Del Marine on a third-and-11 play, then scored from six yards.

Moorpark’s Johnel Turner rushed for 44 yards in nine carries and Jamal Anderson added 42 in six. Anderson did not start and played sparingly because, Bittner said, the coaches were trying to give more backs an opportunity to play.

Kris Dutra completed three of four passes for 52 yards, and Marine completed five of 10 for 90 yards.