Under the lights at SBVC

OK. I have to admit I was not excited about the prospect of 7 p.m. football games at San Bernardino Valley College. It is hard enough covering 7 p.m. high school games and they are usually a good 30-45 minutes shorter. Now I am going to try and make a 10 p.m. deadline when games aren't over until 10 p.m. . . . and that is if you're lucky.

The Wolverines used to play night games in the era of veteran coach Ron Smedley but went to afternoon games when he retired five years ago.

The thinking in going back to night games was that the school would draw a bigger crowd than was the case in 1 p.m. contests where the number of players on the field often outnumbered the fans in the stands. In this case administrators were right, at least judging by the turnout for Saturday's 2007 home opener against Los Angeles Southwest. The crowd was an estimated 1,000 was probably the total of all the home games last year.

There was a legitiamte buzz in the air too. That buzz died down a bit after the Wolverines failed on fourth down twice and fumbled twice in the first four possessions.

San Bernardino native Henry Tauteoli leaped up and down on the sidelines, waving his arms, trying to get the crowd back into that game. It worked momentarily. But a ferocious hit by DeMorris Brooks that nearly decapitated a Cougar ball carrier helped more.

SBVC trailed at the half 26-7.

Jovante Taylor single-handedly dismantled SBVC. He caught a 45-yard pass from Kurious Alexander (yes that is his real name) to open the scoring, then later returned a kickoff 87 yards for a touchdown. And that was just in the first half. He returned the second half kickoff 89 yards for another score.

We were all a little mystified when the Wolverines even kicked to him later in the fourth quarter after scoring. A collective groan went up as Taylor, the state track champion in the 100 meters, settled under the ball. But this time the Wolverines made the tackle.

All in all it was a fun night, although some of the luster was taken off by a 45-28 loss.

The Wolverines are 0-2 but have a week off to address their issues before hosting Grossmont in a Foothill Conference opener Sept. 22. By the way, Grossmont is off to an uncharacteristic 0-2 start as well.

Brooks is an exciting player. So is wide receiver Sylvester Burel. SBVC has some talent.

Let's hope the buzz remains and that the Wolverines can rise to the challenge.