Bakersfield Sweeps Past Valley, 13-10

Valley College surrendered two touchdowns in the final 4:30 and was shocked by Bakersfield, 13-10, in a Western State Conference interdivision game in front of 3,846 at Memorial Stadium on Friday night.

Fullback Dave Bennett’s four-yard touchdown sweep with four seconds to play capped an emotional comeback for the Renegades (1-1) that began with a hook-and-ladder play that went 80 yards for a touchdown.

Wide receiver Eddie Jackson caught a six-yard slant pass from Jeff Dover and quickly pitched to a streaking Jermaine Ervin, who dashed untouched down the sideline.

The pass appeared to slip through Jackson’s hands and deflect off his facemask into Ervin’s hands.

“That was indescribably sweet,” Dover said. “We have that play and we’ve run it in practice. But this is the first time we ever used it. We didn’t expect it to go off the helmet.”

Valley (1-1), which held a 10-0 halftime lead, collapsed defensively in the final minutes. The Monarchs were forced to punt in their final possession, giving Bakersfield a first down at its 37.

Dover had three completions during the game-winning drive, which nearly stalled because of an illegal procedure penalty against the Renegades at the Valley one-yard line.

Two plays later, with the clock running, Bennett beat a pair of Valley defenders to the corner of the end zone.

“We played a great defensive game, but they hit us with a surprise,” Valley linebacker Jose Lopez said. “We gave it our all.”

Freshman Travis Winn, who completed 14 of 24 passes for 221 yards, drove the Monarchs 80 yards in seven plays on their second possession. He passed for 74 yards on the drive, including a 28-yard touchdown pass to Kevin Carlsen.

Winn completed five of six attempts on the march, including five in a row. Carlsen caught three passes for 46 yards.

Valley took a 10-0 lead on an 18-yard field goal by Fernando Arias with 1:31 to play in the first half.

The play capped an 80-yard drive that included a 71-yard completion from Winn to Milton Wynn on a swing pass.

The drive appeared to come up empty at the Bakersfield two when a shotgun snap on fourth down skidded between Winn’s legs.

Bakersfield, however, committed a facemask penalty on the play and Valley retained possession at the one. Arias then entered for the field-goal attempt.

A facemask penalty short-circuited a second-quarter drive when Dover was whistled for grabbing a defender’s mask after being forced out of bounds at the Bakersfield 36.

Faced with fourth and one at the Bakersfield 36, Jermaine Ervin ran 35 yards on a fake punt to give the Renegades a first down at the Valley 34.

The drive stalled when two passes by Dover fell incomplete and Jason Martin missed a 36-yard field goal.

* GAME DAY: A look at today’s top college matchups, including Northridge-Eastern Washington, Cal Lutheran-San Diego and junior college games. C16