With 197 wins as head coach of Moorpark College, Jim Bittner is Ventura County's winningest football coach at any level.

He has seen plenty of football. He's been coaching at Moorpark since 1973 and coached for years at Oxnard High prior to moving east.

But this season may be the biggest test of his coaching career. His young Raiders have dropped their first two games and now face a six-game stretch in which they play six of the Top 16 teams in Southern California.

"It's a gauntlet," said Bittner. "If you really want to get killed, these teams will be more than happy to deliver. You better step up and fight for your life."

Moorpark opens the stretch Saturday afternoon against No. 4 Fullerton, which features the top-ranked defense in the region.

"It's a challenge, the biggest challenge I've had I think since I've been coaching," said Bittner, who is in line to coach in his sixth decade next fall. "If I can wake this team up, they're going to be pretty good. But they have to got to start believing it its talents.

"There's not been much difference between us and the rest of the teams. We've just been not playing with the type of energy that we have to play with."