A.V. SUFFOCATED BY BAKERSFIELD CRENSHAW UNABLE TO FIND ROOM BAKERSFIELD 20, A.V. 10.

Byline: Ramona Shelburne  Staff Writer

LANCASTER - The first two times Andre Crenshaw touched the ball it looked as if he was going to pick up right where he left off in Week One, when the Antelope Valley junior rushed for 278 yards and four touchdowns.

Crenshaw broke off a 16-yard run on his first carry, then took a screen pass from Mychal Bogan 11 yards on the next play. But there's only so much you can warn a team before it catches on.

With Bakersfield High sending two and three defenders at him on every play, Crenshaw only gained 23 yards on his next 14 carries and Antelope Valley failed to find much else on offense. Bakersfield on the other hand, had a balanced attack that kept the Antelopes guessing and they lost 20-10 at Mays Field on Friday night.

``It just seemed like we were never able to get in a rhythm all night,'' Antelope Valley coach Jon Fleming said. ``I thought their line on the offensive and defensive side of the ball was the difference. They were moving the line of scrimmage all night.''

Bakersfield (1-1) increased its lead in the long-standing rivalry to 19-10 with the victory. Antelope Valley (1-1) had won the previous two meetings. It was former USC star safety Jason Oliver's first victory over A.V. as a head coach.

Crenshaw, who injured his ribs early in the game and was in considerable pain, gave credit to Bakersfield, but said his team seemed unfocused from the start of the game.

``It was a long night,'' Crenshaw said. ``It just seemed like we didn't come ready to play. that everybody wasn't all here tonight.''

In the first half, Crenshaw and Bogan were the only A.V. players to touch the ball until the final 21 seconds, when Bogan completed passes to Randy Burton and Darius Roberts.

On the other hand, Bakersfield spread it around to eight different players and drained time off the clock with a solid running game.

The Drillers scored first on an 11-play, 97-yard drive that ate up nearly 7 minutes off the clock in the first quarter. Ceth Moore capped the impressive drive with a 23-yard touchdown run as he burst unscathed up the middle of the field.

Darek Thompson made it 10-0 with a 23-yard field goal in the second quarter and the Drillers took that lead into halftime.

Bogan got Antelope Valley back into it with a nifty 48-yard run at the end of the third quarter and freshman kicker Brett Lloyd tied it with a 39-yard field goal with 9:48 to go.

But with about six minutes to go in the game, Bakersfield quarterback Jake Stritchfield found Shawn Janssen streaking across the middle for a 31-yard gain, setting up a 22-yard go-ahead touchdown by Patrick Horn with just under 5 minutes to go.

Antelope Valley drove to near midfield, but Matt Martin picked off a pass intended for Burton with 2:18 to go and sealed the victory.

Antelope Valley managed only 84 yards of offense in the half.

Ramona Shelburne, [phone]

ramona.shelburne(at)dailynews.com