COLLEGE FOOTBALL NOTES: AVC'S OFFENSE STRUGGLES ON, OFF FIELD.

Byline: Gideon Rubin Staff Writer

LANCASTER - With one of the most talented and experienced defensive units the Antelope Valley College football team has fielded in years, the Marauders were just looking for their offense to be adequate.

It's been far less than that though.

AVC, which managed just 196 total yards in Saturday's 17-14 Foothill Conference loss to San Diego Mesa, is ranked eighth in the nine-team conference in total offense, averaging 221.2 yards per game.

The Marauders are last in rushing, averaging 74.2 rushing yards, and eighth in passing, averaging 137 yards.

To be fair, an illness to starting quarterback Justin Dion (Desert High) and injuries to several key players haven't helped.

Dion hasn't played in two weeks since suffering viral symptoms originally thought be pneumonia.

His status for the remainder of the season is uncertain pending the results of recent medical tests.

Starting fullback Sean Wallace (Antelope Valley) has missed three games due to a hairline leg fracture.

Reserve quarterback Michael Woods left last week's game in the third quarter with a knee injury shortly after he had sparked the sputtering Marauders' offense.

Woods came into the game as a replacement for backup quarterback Ron Hamilton (Quartz Hill).

Considering their inexperience on the offensive side of the ball the Marauders went into the season starting eight freshmen so AVC's offensive struggles weren't completely unexpected.

But the above-mentioned factors have figured prominently to the tepid offense.

``Losing Justin and Sean have caused us to have to rethink what we do,'' Antelope Valley coach Brent Carder said.

``We were hoping that Sean and Justin would be able to keep things going for us until we got more experience, but it's kind of thrown us a little bit of a curve with those guys out.''

--Tough loss: The San Diego Mesa loss was tough to take because of how AVC lost, as well as the implications.

The Marauders squandered several scoring opportunities in the fourth quarter, failing to convert on a blocked field goal Carder felt his team should have, and getting sacked out of field-goal range after advancing the ball to the Olympians' 30 in the closing minutes.

Barring a major upset, the loss effectively dropped the Marauders out of contention for a California state championship bowl series game.

AVC, which was ranked 17th in Southern California in the most recent Commission on Athletics polling, nevertheless remains a top candidate for one of several bowl games.

Talk of possible bowl bids is the last thing on Carder's mind these days.

``That's the least of my worries,'' Carder said. ``It doesn't make a lot of sense to start talking about bowl games until you can start winning again.''

--Injury update: Free safety Richard Newton (Littlerock) and tight end DeAndre Day (Rosamond), both of whom suffered a foot injury in Saturday's game, underwent X-rays that revealed no breakage, and both are probable for Saturday's 1 p.m. game against Mt. San Jacinto. ... Woods is also probable for Saturday's game. ... Wallace was scheduled to visit a doctor Wednesday, but will miss at least another week. ... Linebacker Cole Miyahira (broken collarbone) is expected to miss at least one or two more weeks, Carder said.

--Record pace: Soccer standout Stephanie Meek (Lancaster) needed just one goal to tie the all-time AVC's record for goals. Meek had 35 career goals and 10 this season going into Tuesday's game against San Bernardino Valley.

Stephanie Kneifl set the career mark last season.

Gideon Rubin [phone]

gideon.rubin(at)dailynews.com