AVC MAINTAINING ITS GRIP; NEXT STRETCH IS GRUELING, BUT FOOTHILL TITLE IS THE PRIZE.

Byline: Chris Cocoles Daily News Staff Writer

Until last weekend, Brent Carder hadn't seen such slick fingers and generosity in one of his Antelope Valley College football teams since a rainy Saturday in 1972.

The Marauders played at Hartnell College on a swamp of a field in Gilroy 25 years ago. AVC lost 30-0, and Carder recalls that his team turned the ball over 13 times.

``We played that game on a Saturday night and they had just played four high school games there. Hartnell knew how to play on a field like that and we were just a bunch of guys from the desert,'' said Carder, whose Marauders host Chaffey tonight at 7.

The field at Citrus College wasn't such a quagmire last Saturday, but AVC still had trouble holding onto the football, fumbling eight times and losing possession on five of them.

The difference was, the Marauders still found a way to win, getting touchdown runs from Lafayatte Bailey (twice) and Kenyatta Dawson and another spirited effort on defense to beat the Owls 21-14 and remain in the middle of the Foothill Conference title race.

``It's not easy to win when you fumble eight teams and get a punt blocked,'' AVC assistant head coach/offensive coordinator Frank Blua said. ``It's a tribute to our defense and our ability to overcome all that and still win the game.''

The Marauders haven't been all that pretty this season - just effective. At 3-1 in conference play (4-2 overall), AVC controls its destiny; it can at least share the Foothill title if it runs the table.

``I think the good thing about this team is that we've found ways to win and overcome some adversity,'' Carder said. ``We'll continue to improve as the season progresses.''

Chaffey (2-2, 3-3), unlike the Marauders, has come up short in several close games but still poses a threat as AVC begins what has loomed as a three-week death march against last year's conference tri-champions (Chaffey, Grossmont and San Bernardino Valley).

``This Chaffey team is so close to being 4-0 (in the conference),'' Carder said. The Panthers lost on a Southwestern touchdown on the game's final play and then dropped a 41-34 overtime decision to Mt. San Jacinto a week later.

``This team is still one of the defending tri-champions from a year ago,'' Carder said. ``It's a game we have to win and they probably feel the same way.''

Notes: The Marauders won't have the services of wide receiver Ty Gifford because of a dislocated right shoulder suffered in a freak accident during a practice blocking drill. . . . Offensive lineman Jim Coffer is done for the year after the sophomore broke his collarbone at Citrus. . . . If his team can conquer the Chaffey, Grossmont and San Bernardino triplex - a tall order - it could leave just Victor Valley, a team AVC has never lost to in 11 tries, standing in the way of a conference title in the final game of the regular season. ``What we'd like to see is to set us up for the Victor Valley game for the conference championship,'' Carder said.

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Photo: The ball-carrying of Lafayatte Bailey, right, has been a keyto Antelope Valley College's success this year.

Jeff Goldwater / Daily News