Garces holds off BHS for hard-fought 21-10 victory
Oct. 16—There wasn't much in the way of breathing room for most of the 48 minutes of football Friday night at San Tobias Field.
But when Garces senior Ian Jernagin finished off a punishing 11-yard touchdown run with 1:08 to play, the Rams could finally take a collective sigh of relief in a hard-fought battle with Bakersfield High.
Jernagin's run, which featured several broken tackles, culminating with the 6-foot, 195-pound running back carrying a pair of Drillers into the end zone, in what proved to be the exclamation point on a 21-10 victory on the Rams' Homecoming night.
"What we had was a great football game by two great programs," third-year Garces coach Paul Golla said. "Hats off to the Drillers who played outstanding all night. And congratulations to the Rams. Just a great high school football game that every fan would want to see."
With the victory, the Rams (4-3, 1-1 SWYL) kept their hopes alive for a share of the Southwest Yosemite League title alive — they need to win out and have first-place Liberty lose in the next two weeks — while at the same time improving their playoff seeding with two weeks left this season.
"It feels great," Golla said. "We were talking to the kids about keeping their composure and focusing on the process. And I really believe that's what they did. Hats off to our coaching staff for the way they handle the distractions for Homecoming week."
It was also the first victory for Golla against his former team, albeit in just his second try. Golla left BHS after a highly-successful 14-year tenure and took over the Rams' program in 2019.
"It's an old rivalry," Golls said. "Most people don't know, unless you're from Bakersfield, how deep this goes. A lot of split families going to either Garces or Bakersfield Highs. A lot of in-house rivalries."
The outcome of the game was in doubt until late in the fourth quarter. With Garces clinging to a 14-10 lead, Bakersfield forced the Rams to punt with six minutes to play.
The Drillers (2-4, 2-1) took over, but struggled to move the ball on their first two plays. Facing a third-and-six from its own 28, BHS quarterback Ty Monteiro broke off a long run up the center of the field before finding resistance around midfield.
The junior lost the ball trying to fight for more yardage and the Rams' Julian Smith picked up to set up what turned out to be Garces' clinching drive. Monteiro finished with a team-high 64 yards rushing and was 6 for 16 passing for 53 yards.
Bakersfield had several chances to at least tie the game in the second half. Monteiro threw to Tybo Rogers for an apparent 15-yard touchdown midway through the third quarter, but Rogers was ruled out of bounds on the sideline. The following play, Daylon Leach made a diving catch on a Monteiro throw in the back of the end zone, but was ruled out of bounds.
The Drillers settled for a 32-yard field goal from Bradyn Ornelaz with 5:51 left in the third quarter to cut Garces' lead to 14-10.
Bakersfield was also hurt by penalties, finishing with 11 for 105 yards, many of which wiped out big gains or backed the Drillers into difficult first, second and third-and-long situations.
"It was a battle back and forth," interim Bakersfield coach Rashaan Shehee said. "We knew Garces was going to come out ready to play. We just made too many mistakes. Too many missed blocks, too many dropped balls, not reading the right assignments. And we've been doing that the last couple of weeks and got away with it. Garces is just too good to get away with that."
Jernagin, who transferred from Bakersfield High after his sophomore year, finished with 103 yards rushing on 22 carries, and opened the game's scoring with a 3-yard touchdown run early in the second quarter.
"We just tried to outwork the people in front of us," Jernagin said. "We went out and played four quarters of football ... and you guys saw the result."
But Rogers returned the ensuing kick-off 78 yards for a touchdown, bursting through a hole, before cutting to the right sideline en route to the end zone for a 7-7 tie with 10:24 left in the first half.
Garces took the lead for good just before halftime when Zamir Hall busted free for a 55-yard touchdown run with 2:48 left in the second quarter. Hall finished with a game-high 107 yards rushing on eight carries.
"I'm always proud of my guys," Shehee said. "I know they go out and play extremely hard, and I know they wanted to win this game. But it's also one of those things you learn in life. If you don't go all the way and cover the details, you're not going to win games."
