Football Recap: Jeffery Smith and Bricen Gutierrez Pace Independence Defense + How To Watch

After flying high against Highland last Friday, Independence came back down to earth. The Falcons took a 24-14 hit to the loss column at the hands of the Bakersfield Christian Eagles on Friday. The Falcons have struggled against the Eagles recently, as the game was their seventh consecutive lost matchup.

Despite the loss, Independence still got an impressive performance from Rickey Johnson, who rushed for 142 yards and a pair of TDs.

Independence didn't go easy on the quarterback and picked off two passes before the game was over. The picks came courtesy of Jeffery Smith and Bricen Gutierrez.

Bakersfield Christian can attribute much of their success to Lincoln Adame, who threw for 280 yards and three touchdowns while completing 77.8% of his passes. That's the most passing yards Adame has posted since back in October of 2024.

Independence's defeat was their first in the league, dropping their league record down to 2-1 and their overall record down to 6-3. As for Bakersfield Christian, the win keeps them at an undefeated 9-0.

Coming up, Independence will challenge Bakersfield at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. The two teams have allowed few points on average (the Falcons 12, the Drillers 8.4) so any points scored will be well earned. Bakersfield Christian has already played their next contest (against Garces Memorial), but no score has been uploaded at the time of writing.