There were high hopes for the San Bernardino Valley College football team as it opened the 100th year of football in the history of the school.

But a case of first-game jitters got in the way.

The Wolverines were down 20-8 less than 10 minutes into Saturday's game against Antelope Valley College, and trailed by 19 at the half. But SBVC righted the ship in the second half, shutting out the Marauders in the second half and limiting them to 137 yards of offense - after giving up 277 in the opening half. And the Wolverines were in the red zone with less than two minutes to play, but could not find the end zone one last time, falling 33-28 before a crowd of about 2,000 people.

SBVC turned the ball over on the second play of the game, giving Antelope Valley the ball at the Wolverines' 37-yard-line. Three plays later, Jaden Graham busted through three tackles from 17 yards out to give the Marauders an early 7-0 lead.

But the Wolverines answered right back. Jason Harris Jr. returned the ensuing kickoff 62 yards, setting up SBVC at the AVC 18. Jonathan Coar punched it in from a yard out five plays later. Roman Aguirre ran in the two-point attempt, giving SBVC its only lead of the night.

The Marauders used two big plays to take the lead in the first quarter. First, quarterback John Sanders hit Shawn Irwin for a 61-yard pass play to make it 13-8. Then, on the first play of AVC's next drive, Graham found his way through the SBVC defense again, scoring on a 55-yard run to widen the lead to 20-8.

After AVC widened its lead to 33-8 in the second quarter, the SBVC offense finally started gaining some momentum, closing out the half with a pair of field goals from Jonathan Lupercio - from 37 and 22 yards out - to send the teams to the locker room at 33-14.

The Wolverines started their comeback in the third. After the defense stopped the Marauders at the SBVC 26, the Wolverines took five plays to go the 74 yards, with Coar getting his second touchdown of the night to make it 33-21.

Then, the defense came up big again on the first drive of the fourth quarter. Asaad Chapman broke through the AVC line to block a 38-yard field-goal attempt by Mykel McClendon, and Raschon Hardeman picked up the loose ball and returned it to the SBVC 45. Four plays - and two 15-yard penalties - later, and the Wolverines were back within one score, as Kane Richardson hit Harris from 7 yards out to make it 33-28.

But that's as close as SBVC got. They stalled out at the AVC 6-yard-line with 1:54 remaining. And after getting the ball back at the AVC 43 with 1:03 to go, Richardson was picked off by Zyier Lane to close the night.

SBVC committed five turnovers in the game, to only one by the Marauders. AVC, meanwhile, ended the game with 17 penalties for 186 yards. 

The Wolverines head out on the road for their next game, taking on Los Angeles Valley College at 6 p.m. Sept. 6.