The young Chabot College football team has a long drive and some hard work to do this Labor Day Weekend.
The Glads will kick off the season Saturday afternoon up north at Feather River College in Quincy — about a 235-mile drive from Chabot. How the new guys handle the lengthy trip could be key to the outcome.
Chabot prepared for Feather River, 11-0 last season and riding a 21-game winning streak, with a productive scrimmage at Foothill Junior College last week.
"We're excited," head coach Eric Fanene said. "It (the scrimmage) was good for our guys. We had lots of guys sick and hurt, but we treated it as a real practice. We were getting guys in condition, tackling and flying around, blocking a different jersey for the first time."
Fanene, who plans to air it out again this season while running the offense, has lots of new coaches on staff. Returner Tony Pole is the defensive coordinator.
New quarterback Colby Furia out of St. Vincent De Paul High-Petaluma has been impressive.
 "He's looking real good running our offense very, very well," Fanene says. "He ran a similar offense in high school, so we're happy with those guys."
The offense has only one returning starter in offensive lineman EJ Horner. Unfortunately, Johnny Hilder, an O-line starter last season, has been lost due to a torn labrum. The O-line last year was loaded with top veteran talent, but that group has moved on to the next level.
"We've got some young guys on the O-line, a lot of guys that we shirted, but EJ definitely leads that group," Fanene says.
Two young starting linemen Odin Malbee (Castro Valley) and Sioni Locotui (James Logan) are "very impressive, some of the best freshmen linemen that I've been around in a while," Fanene said. "… We're real young across the board, we graduated a lot of guys. I think that's happening across the state, teams stacked up those COVID rosters. We had a lot of numbers and they all graduated the same year."
Returning running back Ismael Sanchez (San Leandro) has "looked better than ever, so we're happy to have him back," Fanene says.
Returner Keirr Stewart (Encinal), a slot receiver, has had a good camp.
The defense features sophomore nose tackle Opeti Fangupo (Saint Francis High-Mountain View). "Our D-line is probably are most deep position group on the team, and you need those," Fanene says.
Another tackle Alejandro Tovar (James Logan), who had a season-ending injury against Sacramento City last year, is "back and better than ever, so we're excited about those two in the middle," Fanene said.
Defensive end Callan Ivy (San Leandro) who also had a season-ending injury last season in the Foothill scrimmage, looked good in the scrimmage last week. "He's a hard worker kid," Fanene said.
DE Marlin Brown (Tennyson), a transfer from De Anza, is looking for a big season after shirting last season.
The secondary isn't that deep, but it boasts returning corner Justus Breston from Georgia. "He was in and out of the lineup last year, but he just changed his body; he committed to the offseason. He's bigger, faster stronger, he's a very good corner," Fanene says.
Returning safety Eric Johnson, a Washington graduate, is a veteran standout, and Youcef Benchohra (Burlingame), a free safety last year, is starting at defensive back and taking the spot of last year's star Tuakoi Mahe. Those are big shoes to fill, but Benchohra looks the part.
The Glads' home opener is Sept. 9 against Reedley. All home games the season will start at 1 p.m. Chabot is ranked "others included" in the JC Athletic Bureau preseason poll, while Feather River is No. 22.