Bakersfield Gets Glendale by Ankles

Tailback Ramone Archie alternately stood and sat on the sidelines, nursing a bad ankle and watching his Glendale College teammates battle powerful Bakersfield.

The Vaqueros, playing most of the game without Archie and quarterback Aryn Hart because of injuries, were no match for Bakersfield in a 36-14 Western State Conference Northern Division defeat Saturday at Glendale High.

Archie, who entered the game with 675 yards rushing and 10 touchdowns, injured his left ankle on a 29-yard run on the second play from scrimmage and left after one quarter.

Glendale’s chances went with him.

“I tried to come back but I wouldn’t have helped the team if I wasn’t 100%,” Archie said.

Archie finished with 35 yards in five carries. His absence not only cost Glendale (3-4, 1-1 in division play) the services of the fifth-leading rusher in the conference, but it forced fullback Rahsaan Harrison to handle the rushing load from single-back formation.

Harrison is no slouch, coming into the game with 555 yards rushing, but without Archie he was a marked man. Harrison had 41 yards in 15 carries.

“That’s a good team and you have to operate on all cylinders,” said John Cicuto, Glendale coach.

Bakersfield (6-1, 2-0), ranked 10th in the state, took advantage of premium field position in the first half and capitalized on some big third- and fourth-down conversions even when its running attack wasn’t as potent as usual.

The Vaqueros limited Bakersfield, which was averaging 246.0 yards rushing, to 177 yards on the ground. They held Armis Stokes, who was the WSC’s second-leading rusher with 796 yards, to 77.

But Bakersfield held Glendale to 24 yards in the first half and 281 in the game. Most of the yards came from freshman John Carnevali, who completed 19 of 36 passes for 222 yards with two touchdowns and three interceptions after replacing Hart midway through the second quarter.

Hart aggravated an ankle he sprained in last week’s victory over Ventura.

Bakersfield’s ability to come up with successful plays when seemingly halted was never more evident than when quarterback Nathan Sparks connected with Willie Cohen on a 30-yard touchdown on third and 21 with 6:31 left in the half.

The touchdown gave the Renegades a 19-0 lead at halftime. It was the first of three touchdown passes by Sparks, who was 11 of 20 for 207 yards and one interception.

The Renegades took a 3-0 lead on Chad Hathaway’s 24-yard field goal 8:26 into the game and added two points on the first play of the second quarter when linebacker Jerome Simpkins sacked Hart in the end zone.

They went ahead, 12-0, on an eight-yard pass from Sparks to tight end Matt Cercone and 19-0 on Sparks’ 30-yard pass to Cohen.

Hathaway added a 36-yard field goal with 10:41 to play in the third quarter and Ricky Carter scored on a two-yard run about six minutes later for a 29-0 cushion.

Glendale averted the shutout on Carnevali’s 20-yard pass to Patrick Fields and a two-point conversion with 12:15 left in the game.

The Vaqueros made it 29-14 on a 24-yard pass play from Carnevali to Scott Boldvich with 9:38 to play but Bakersfield answered with an 18-yard strike from Sparks to tight end Chad Van Osdel.