The Renegades looked like they were going to get blown out when Mount SAC took a 20-0 lead in the second quarter. At the time, BC had 12 net rushing yards and 30 passing yards, and it seemed like nothing would get the Gades untracked.

Then Rishard Matthews caught a short pass, turned upfield and went 78 yards to the one-foot line, setting up Ben Estill's 1-yard TD. Estill scored again later in the quarter and it was a tight battle until the final 2-1/2 minutes when Mount SAC got a field goal and two interception returns for TDs for the final 39-17 win.

The National Central Conference did in the Gades this season. The 10-2 Gades lost both times to NCC teams: 40-24 at El Camino and the game Saturday. Hats off to Palomar, the No. 6 seed that has won twice on the road and gets Mount SAC next. Palomar beat No. 3-seed Cerritos last week, then had a 38-36 triple-OT win at Fullerton Saturday.

It was an entertaining season for BC. I'd say El Camino and Mt. SAC were the best teams BC faced. Hancock was solid, but a notch below those NCC teams and their high-powered passing attacks with both having a horde of talented receivers. Canyons was OK, but not at the level of Hancock, let alone El Camino or Mt. SAC.

The Gades had a good contingent of fans. Looking up in the stands as the game concluded, it looked like about the same number on both sides.

Here's a tidbit I saw when examining both teams' rosters before the game:

Mt. SAC had 26 out-of-state players on its team to BC's 11. Mt. SAC had 53 local players (players from the L.A. area, especially from the communities around Mt. SAC) and BC had 71 from Kern County. Mt. SAC had 7 others from California and BC had 10 others from California (and outside Kern County).

What does that tell me? You can have your core group from your local community, but you need talented out-of-towners if you're going to compete for a state title.

Mt. SAC QB Matt Faulkner is from Texas and a Fresno State kickback; Mt. SAC DE Bruce Irvin (No. 11) is from Atlanta and WR No. 5, Lester Thomas, is from Miami.

BC? Well, QB Logan Kilgore is from Sacramento, WR Rishard Matthews is from Orange County, DL stars Tyrone Crawford (Canada) and Maurice Hayes (Georgia) and top DB Chika Madu is from Oklahoma. Some notable locals: RB Ben Estill (Taft), PK Josh Gallington (Bak. Christian), injured RB Andre Smith (East HS), DBs Eddie Coronado (Centennial) and Tanner Webb (North HS).

Mt. SAC is going for its third straight SoCal title. It won the state title two years ago and lost last season to Butte. It's hard to imagine Palomar can pull off a third straight upset next week but maybe that program has the karma going for it.

These guys always seem to have great games.

BC's 24-21 Golden Empire Bowl win on Saturday had more twists than a Magic Mountain roller coaster (OK, that's a pretty sorry cliche).

BC beat Hancock for the second time this season, and both games came down to the end. On Oct. 10, BC stopped the Bulldogs on a fourth-and-goal from the 2 with two seconds left. On Saturday, it was Josh Gallington's 22-yard field goal on the game's final play.

These teams always seem to pound each other senseless. The one thing I've noticed over the years that when the teams are evenly matched, BC seems to find a way to win. Hancock won last year (when BC had its weakest team in years).

BC had only 39 net rushing yards with 4 minutes left in the third quarter. But with the game on the line, BC ran for 101 yards the rest of the way. Ben Estill had 90 of his game-high 116 during that stretch.

BC could have scored more. The Gades failed to convert twice on fourth downs inside the Hancock 10-yard line. Estill was stopped for no gain at the 1 and a wide open Gareth Brown dropped a play-action pass when he was all alone at the 2-yard line. Brown's play was offset when Hancock didn't move the ball, punted and Rishard Matthews returned it to the 3, where Estill scored on the next play.

Montreal Harris, who had a great one-handed catch for 35 yards in the first half, dropped a sure TD pass early in the third quarter, and BC had to settle for a field goal.

But the most important element is the Gades found a way to win. Next up is a Mount SAC team ranked No. 1 in the state and coming off a 69-31 win over L.A. Pierce in another playoff game. The upset was No. 6 seed Palomar stunning No. 3 Cerritos 31-17. No. 2 Fullerton won as expected, 49-19 over L.A. Harbor.

So it's BC at Mount SAC and Palomar at Fullerton in the SoCal semis next week. The SoCal champ will be crowned one week after that, with that winner facing College of San Mateo, No. 2-ranked in the state behind Mount SAC that beat Reedley 31-20 on Saturday.

My guess is that the SoCal winner, whoever it winds up being, will beat San Mateo, which is 10-1 but couldn't put away Reedley (7-4) until late in their game Saturday.

The Southern California JC football playoffs went as expected when announced Sunday. BC is the No. 4 seed and gets a Golden Empire Bowl showdown with Allan Hancock, a battle of two 9-1 teams.

BC beat Hancock 31-24 when Hancock's fourth-and-goal pass from the 2-yard line was knocked down in the end zone by Eddie Coronado with two seconds left in the game when these teams met last time.

Other matchups: the same as Sunday's early-morning blog: No. 1 Mount San Antonio vs. No. 8 Pierce, No. 2 Fullerton vs. No. 7 Harbor and No. 3 Cerritos vs. No. 6 Palomar.

What this means is BC will get only one playoff game if the Gades win. Mount SAC isn't going to lose to Pierce unless there's a swine flu outbreak on the Mount SAC team or some other natural catastrophe hits.

BC and Hancock are two physical teams. That's the way they play every year and it's the way they played in the first game this season. The biggest question is the health of some key BC players who were injured in Saturday night's 24-9 win over Canyons. It will be very difficult beating Hancock if DL Tyrone Crawford (ankle) is out, or starting CB Chika Madu (ankle), or RB Ben Estill (knee).

Hancock's only loss this season was that wild one to BC, but BC led 24-3 in the third quarter that night.

Look for an entertaining, hard-hitting game on Saturday.

BC wrapped up the outright National Northern Conference title Saturday night with a 24-9 win over Canyons and assured itself of a home game, Saturday's Golden Empire Bowl.

The eight-team Southern California playoff matchups will be announced later today (this is being written Sunday, Nov. 15, at 12:45 a.m.). I expect to see BC the No. 4 seed and most likely playing a rematch vs. Allan Hancock, with the only other possible opponent being Palomar.

El Camino, which handed BC its only loss on Sept. 26 (40-24) was knocked out of the playoffs when it lost on Saturday to Cerritos, 42-28. Likely top seed Mount San Antonio (9-1 after winning Saturday) and Cerritos (9-1) are the National Central Conference playoff qualifiers. Cerritos will probably be the No. 3 seed, although there's an outside chance the committee might reward BC because it is a conference champ while Cerritos took second place in its conference. But I don't expect that since Cerritos beat an El Camino team that has a win over BC and was higher ranked than BC heading into this weekend.

Fullerton, also 9-1 after winning Saturday, won the National Southern Conference and will probably be seeded No. 2 (it was No. 2 behind Mount SAC in last week's poll).

BC, 5th in the poll last week, will move up with El Camino (No. 4 last week) out of the playoffs. Hancock was No. 6 last week and is 9-1 (the loss was to BC, 31-24 on Oct. 10), so logic says the Bulldogs will move up a spot to No. 5; if that happens, it'll be BC vs. Hancock.

Palomar, No. 7 last week, got into the playoffs as the National Southern Conference runner-up after holding the tie-breaker over Saddleback, which beat Grossmont 44-27 Saturday. If Grossmont (No. 10 last week) would have won, it would have gotten into the playoffs instead of Palomar because it held the tie-breaker over Palomar.

The seventh and eighth seeds will be the two representatives from the weaker American Conference. L.A. Harbor, which entered Saturday as the state's only unbeaten team, fell to 9-1 when it was upset 29-21 by San Bernardino Valley. Harbor is in the playoffs, however, because it won the American Mountain Conference.

L.A. Pierce is the final playoff team because it won the American Pacific Conference. Pierce also lost Saturday, 49-41 to Santa Monica, which puts the Brahmas at 7-3.

Since Harbor and Pierce are from the weaker American Conference, and both lost Saturday, I can't see them moving past any of the other six playoff teams when the seeding is announced.

The matchups will be official around midday today (Sunday, Nov. 15). If my guessing is right, here's the way it will shape up:

No. 1 Mount SAC (9-1) vs. No. 8 Pierce (7-3)

No. 2 Fullerton (9-1) vs. No. 7 Harbor (9-1)

No. 3 Cerritos (9-1) vs. No. 6 Palomar (8-2)

No. 4 BC (9-1) vs. No. 5 Hancock (9-1), which will be the Golden Empire Bowl.

I'll have another blog later today after the playoffs are announced.

So far the Renegades have responded to every challenge (at least since the loss at El Camino). The latest was Saturday (Halloween night), when the Gades blasted Ventura 44-14 to clinch at least a tie for the Northern National Conference title.

Now the Gades have a bye week, which will, as coach Jeff Chudy said after the game, allow the players (and coaches) to "re-charge their batteries."

A win at Canyons in two weeks gives BC an outright NNC title and ensures a home game in the Golden Empire Bowl as a first-round SoCal playoff game.

BC was fourth in the rankings prior to the win over Ventura and will likely remain there. Top-ranked El Camino was beaten 42-26 by No. 3 Mount SAC. I expect El Camino to remain ahead of BC since it has beaten the Gades head-to-head. Mount SAC was third, and will probably move up to No. 2. Cerritos entered the weekend undefeated and improved to 8-0 (and probably No. 1) by beating Desert 27-17. Cerritos and El Camino still must play each other before the regular season ends.

Should the unthinkable happen and BC lose to Canyons, then who knows what will happen? It could mean the Gades would have a first-round playoff game on the road, and the Golden Empire Bowl would have two out-of-town teams. But I expect the Gades to take care of business and beat Canyons.

BC has certainly routed opponents in the NNC. The scores were 34-13 over Pasadena, 31-24 over Hancock (a game BC led 24-3 in the third quarter), 52-14 over Moorpark and 49-3 over Glendale before Saturday's 44-14 win over Ventura (it was 41-0 at one point).

A blog comment mentioned BC has benefitted from playing in a sub-par conference. The Gades have no control over that. All they can do is take care of business against whoever they play. And except for the El Camino loss (40-24 on Sept. 26), they've done that.

BC crushed Glendale 49-3 on Saturday night, setting the stage for a Northern National Conference title game next Saturday.

Ventura improved to 3-0 in the NNC with a 23-6 win over Canyons. BC went to 4-0 with its win tonight (Oct. 24).

So whoever wins next Saturday's game at BC between the Renegades and Ventura will undoubtedly be the outright champion. The loser will make the SoCal playoffs but might not be in the top 4 for seeding purposes, which would mean a road game to open the playoffs.

It looks like BC will go into next week's showdown without its most dominant defensive player, defensive lineman Maurice Hayes, who suffered a right knee injury in the third quarter against Glendale.

Hayes was helped off the field. By the end of the game, his right leg was immobilized in a knee brace and he was on crutches. I'd say it's highly likely his season is over; in the very least, he'll be out awhile.

The injury occurred when his right foot was planted and didn't give way as a mass of humanity converged on a ball carrier. Glendale has that special artificial turf that is becoming more common. The attraction: a big cash outlay, but then little maintenance for several years.

I remember how the old astroturf would create severe knee injuries, but I haven't heard about injury history with this new turf. Hayes' loss will be felt big-time, not only because of his talent, but because of his leadership and on-field fiery attitude that rubs off on his BC teammates.

About the only surprise I can see from Saturday's (Oct. 17) 52-14 BC win over Moorpark was how truly bad Moorpark was. Moorpark is usually a middle-of-the-pack type of team, and in a good year among the top-third in ability in the Western State Conference.

But not this year. BC is now 6-1 and could have scored in the 60-point range if not for some call by the officials (more on that later).

Other Northern National Conference scores from Saturday: Canyons over Glendale (BC's opponent next week), 14-6; and Allan Hancock beating Pasadena 38-23. Ventura had a bye.

BC had (unofficially) 398 net rushing yards. Both Moorpark TDs were aided by some officials calls, mostly defensive pass interference and defensive holding calls that are automatic first downs and kept drives alive.

One avid BC fan I spoke to after the game said it was the worst officiated game he'd ever seen. My two cents? It was bad, but it really didn't matter. When a team wins 52-14 and the officiating is poor, at least it didn't impact the outcome of the game.

On one pass interference call, these guys must have talked for almost two minutes before play resumed. The flag was thrown and there was no question what the call would be. But they took what seemed like forever.

One call I still can't explain was on a punt return by BC's Rishard Matthews, who caught the ball on the BC 17 and returned it past the 40-yard line. A flag was thrown at the 38 and the signal was holding.

OK. When that happens, the foul occurred where the flag was thrown (the 38 in this case) and the penalty yards are marked off from that spot. But not this time. The refs went back to the 17, where Matthews caught the ball, and marched off the yardage from that spot, half the distance to the goal.

There was no foul in that part of the field. The blockers were all at least 15 yards upfield from where Matthews caught the punt. Your guess is as good as mine on this one.

As for things like clipping, chop blocks, pass interference: who knows? Judgment calls. Some I agreed with; others I wasn't sure, but on some I didn't have a great view, so I didn't have as  much of a problem with the. And the game was lopsided, so I suppose it doesn't really matter.

BC travels to Glendale next Saturday, then hosts Ventura on Halloween night.

One of the joys of my job is seeing games like Saturday night's (Oct. 10) 31-24 Bakersfield College win over previously undefeated Allan Hancock.

The game wasn't decided until Hancock's fourth-down pass from the BC 2-yard line fell incomplete in the end zone.

Along the way were some great calls. Like the bomb to William Randle on BC's first play of the second half -- which went for a 61-yard TD. Or the third-and-6 pass in the fourth quarter to Rishard Matthews, which also went for 61 yards and a TD.

Hancock had some great calls also. Like a fourth-and-4 draw play to running back Thomas Sua that went for a 23-yard TD in the middle of the fourth quarter. Or the play-action pass to running back Mario Jones early in the fourth quarter that went for a 5-yard TD when everyone in the stadium looked for a run.

This game was crucial to BC for another reason. Hancock beat Canyons last week in overtime. Since 2000, either BC or Canyons has won the conference championship. If Hancock had beaten BC, the Renegades would have no longer controlled their own destiny in a bid to win the conference title. BC would have needed to run the table and hope Hancock would lose to someone else for a co-championship, and Hancock would have held the tie-breaker because of the head-to-head win.

But now, two weeks into the conference season, BC and Ventura (a 26-20 winner over Pasadena Saturday) are the only 2-0 teams in conference play. Canyons has to be a contender despite its loss last week to Hancock. Canyons rolled past winless Moorpark 31-7. Moorpark comes to BC this Saturday.

BC should have no trouble the next two weeks, with Moorpark winless and Glendale (the opponent on Oct. 24) not at BC's level. Ventura follows (on Halloween night, at BC), then the regular-season finale on Nov. 14 at Canyons (Nov. 7 in is a bye).

I think the Gades are shoo-ins for the eight-team SoCal playoffs; winning the conference title would ensure a first-round home game (which is the Golden Empire Bowl). If BC stumbles, it would be in danger of opening the playoffs on the road, and the Golden Empire Bowl would subsequently attract two out-of-town teams, probably with a miniscule crowd.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. There's a lot of football left before that all shakes out. But the thriller vs. Hancock keeps BC on pace to win the conference title, and more importantly, BC has its destiny in its own hands.

Bakersfield College bounced back nicely from its first loss of the season on Sept. 26 against El Camino by rolling past Pasadena in Memorial Stadium tonight (Oct. 3), 34-13.

In the days leading up to the game, BC coach Jeff Chudy said Pasadena quarterback Nick Ponce was a better passer than El Camino's Matt Simms, who carved up the BC defense with more than 400 passing yards in the 40-24 win over the Gades.

The Gades definitely played much better against Pasadena. Ponce, who hadn't had an interception all season, threw five. One was returned for a TD and another almost was -- a penalty nullified a 62-yard TD return. The backup QB also threw a pick.

BC sacked Pasadena's two QBs eight times -- four by defensive lineman Tyrone Crawford who seemed to be in the Lancers' backfield the entire night.

Ponce, as it turns out, is not in Matt Simms' league.

Sure, BC played much better and with much more intensity, four turnovers and nearly 100 yards in penalties notwithstanding. But this game was similar to the other BC victories: The Renegades simply overpowered Pasadena because of the Gades' physical prowess.

El Camino, which improved to 5-0 on Saturday by slaughering Riverside 41-16, is a very physical team. It matched BC's physical play. BC's other opponents (Fresno, L.A. Valley, Santa Monica, Pasadena) weren't in the same ballpark.

Next Saturday, BC travels to 5-0 Allan Hancock, a game which will be played at Santa Maria's Righetti High School. Hancock is always very physical, and I expect an interesting matchup because of that. Hancock beat College of the Canyons 19-16 on Saturday. Canyons now has two losses this season.

In the other Northern Natlional Conference game tonight: Ventura beat Glendale 20-13.

How BC matches up physically with Hancock (or a better question: can Hancock match the physical play of BC?) could decide the outcome of this game. We'll see.

Bakersfield College cruised to three victories to open the season, obviously against inferior talent. But the Renegades ran into a buzz saw against their first potent opponent on Saturday.

The 40-24 loss at El Camino demonstrated the value of having a top-line quarterback. It was 3-3 after the first quarter but after that it got away from the Gades. El Camino built a 30-10 lead at one point.

The BC defense dominated its first three opponents, but El Camino QB Matt Simms (son of ex-NFL great Phil Simms) picked apart the BC secondary with crisp, short passes, with an occasional long toss thrown in. He had 403 passing yards by the end of the third quarter and 431 in the game.

Simms passed quickly -- often using a two-step drop and throwing. That left little time for the BC rush to put much pressure on him. BC sacked him only twice, and he was hit after throwing only a handful of times.

There were two long pass plays -- a 50-yarder to El Camino's top receiver Kenbrell Thompkins who ran a fly pattern, got behind the BC defenders and received a perfectly thrown pass from Simms. The other long one was 51 yards to Tony Sekona, but that was a short pass that turned into a long gain when BC defender Deonata Nard missed a tackle that would have ended the play after about 12 yards.

El Camino, on the other hand, got constant pressure on BC QB Logan Kilgore. Kilgore had some chances but overthrew a few balls. The best pass play of the night was a great throw and subsequent catch by Vince Van Horne at the 1-yard line as he somehow kept his feet in bounds along the sideline for a fingertip catch.

It's hard to imagine BC facing a QB like Simms or a group of receivers like El Camino has. El Camino had 10 different players with receptions, and the majority of them ran sharp routes, had good hands and found seams in the BC secondary.

Aside from the first drive of the night, BC never got its ground game going. Unofficially 31 net rushing yards illustrates how tough it was to run against an El Camino team that consistently had eight players close to the line of scrimmage.

Next up for BC is Pasadena in the Northern National Conference opener for both teams, which both have 3-1 records. Pasadena routed Riverside 38-7 on Saturday.

A week from next Saturday BC is in Santa Maria to face Allen Hancock, which improved to 4-0 Saturday by rolling past Citrus 48-23.

So these next two games loom large. The challenge is seeing how the Renegades bounce back after Saturday.