Sykes provides spark for 'Gades
-
1 of 4By Henry A. Barrios / The Californian
Jalen Sykes has become BC's most consistent running back.
click to collapse -
2 of 4By Henry A. Barrios / The Californian
Jalen Sykes has become BC's most consistent running back. He is coming off of a 157-yard game.
click to collapse -
3 of 4
By Rod Thornburg / Special to The Californian
BC VS. FULLERTON FOOTBALL BC's Jalen Sykes gets man handled by #98 Antoine Turner of Fullerton.
click to collapse -
4 of 4
By Rod Thornburg / Special to The Californian
BC VS. FULLERTON FOOTBALL #29 Jalen Sykes of BC runs around the end for several yards before being brought down by Fullerton's #32 Justin Owens.
click to collapse
BY JEFF EVANS Californian staff writer jevans@bakersfield.com
Jalen Sykes remembers last season's Bakersfield College game at Ventura.
It's not a pleasant memory.
Related Stories
The Renegades were shut out 13-0, only the third shutout loss by BC in 10 seasons and first since 2005.
Sykes, the Renegades' starting tailback, had a night to forget. The Pirates focused on stopping the BC ground game and limited the Renegades to 25 net yards rushing.
Sykes' line: 24 yards on 14 carries.
"That game was very frustrating," said Sykes, a sophomore from Garces High. "Having (quarterback Brian Burrell, broken collarbone) down, they targeted our running offense. They knew our starting quarterback was done, and our passing game wasn't as good as our run. They stopped us."
Tonight at 6, BC (2-1) is healthy when it travels to Ventura College (3-0). Burrell has taken every snap this season and has thrown for 631 yards in three games with six touchdowns.
Sykes is coming off his best game as a Renegade: 157 yards on 29 carries in Saturday's 31-17 win over Fullerton College.
"I'm very excited about this game," Sykes said. "I look for us to capitalize on what we should've done last year."
Sykes said this year's BC squad is vastly different from last year's.
"Last year our O-line was young; we had a bunch of freshmen," Sykes said. "Brian got hurt, and that hurt us quite a bit.
"This year our line has improved. We've got experience. We work hard in practice. We've got Brian back and we have added a lot of other key guys to our team."
The importance of tonight's game is made even more significant because it's the National Northern Conference opener for both teams.
Most CommentedMost Popular
He’s Dr. Merle Haggard now. The bad-boy hero of the rebel strain of music that put Bakersfield on America’s cultural map half a century ago did something Friday he hadn’t done since he was 9: He sat still in school.
The family of David Silva announced Friday it has filed its long-expected federal civil rights claims against the Kern County Sheriff’s Office, six sheriff’s deputies and a sergeant, two California Highway Patrol officers, the county and the state alleging excessive police force killed him.
SACRAMENTO -- The California High-Speed Rail Authority won approval Thursday from a federal railroad oversight board to start construction this summer on the first leg of what would be the nation's first bullet train.
The Panama-Buena Vista Union School District Tuesday night unanimously approved a contract of employment to hire Kevin Silberberg as its new superintendent.
A Bakersfield attorney’s rocky marriage, marked by a divorce suit and a history of loud, public arguments, reportedly erupted into violence early Wednesday morning when police say he turned a gun on his wife and fired.
A woman found dead in a southeast Bakersfield garage Tuesday was identified Friday as 18-year-old Mia Ramirez of Bakersfield.
After a search that lasted much of Tuesday afternoon, the Kern County Sheriff’s Office arrested a man on suspicion of homicide in connection with the discovery of a woman’s body in a southeast Bakersfield garage.
An inmate condemned for the fatal 2007 beating of a 90-year-old Bakersfield woman died, June 2 of natural causes, Corcoran State Prison announced Monday.