By Phil Jensen
Special to Chabot Athletics
The Chabot College football team's defense forced three turnovers in Saturday afternoon's home game and allowed Santa Rosa Junior College only three points for the first 28 minutes.
But the visiting Bear Cubs broke through in the second half, and the Chabot offense only reached the Cubs' red zone once in a 31-0 Santa Rosa victory.
One of the turnovers Chabot caused was an end-zone interception by Douglas Turner Jr. The Washington High School-Fremont graduate ended a long Santa Rosa drive in the third quarter with his clutch turnover, as the sophomore defensive back played great man defense on outside receivers in the game.
"It's been a craft that we have been working on in practice each and every day," said Turner about the interception. "I'm thankful for my coaches … just everything that I've been working for. Put countless hours into it all spring, just been working hard, that's it. Hard work."
Coach Eric Fanene called Turner "a leader by example. He's a hard worker. … He's definitely one of our best defensive players on the team."
Lee-John Majerus, an Alameda High graduate, also produced an interception on Santa Rosa's last drive of the second half. Majerus dived for it at the Chabot 15. Santa Rosa entered halftime with a 10-0 lead, and nearly half of its first-half yardage was on one play (an 84-yard touchdown pass from Jacob Porteous to Isaac Torres with 1 minute, 33 seconds left in the second quarter). The Bear Cubs didn't get past the 17-yard-line on any other drive in the first half.
Chabot's Willie Chase recovered a Santa Rosa fumble early in the second quarter. Alejandro Tovar, a James Logan graduate, produced a first-quarter sack.
"The defense played … a step up. They got better, especially from last week," Fanene said. "This week, definitely we had them on the field too long with the offense not moving the chains. … Defense got us out of some pinches."
On Sept. 16, Chabot fell to Sacramento City 50-7. After the loss to Santa Rosa, Chabot is now 0-4 this season while Santa Rosa improves to 1-3.
Offensively, the Gladiators' best scoring chance occurred in the fourth quarter, when they moved the ball 56 yards to the Santa Rosa 6 before the drive stalled on four downs. On that drive, Chabot quarterback Colby Furia completed a pair of first-down passes to Ian Hocheder, and the Gladiators also received two first downs due to Santa Rosa penalties. Chabot later drove to the Santa Rosa 25 before a Santa Rosa sack ended the game.
Chabot's Ismael Sanchez had six receptions for 43 yards, and Hocheder had four catches for 57 yards. Teammate Malakai Matthews produced two receptions for 52 yards, including a 44-yarder.
Turner had a positive attitude about the Gladiators' future.
"Next week is a new chance, new opportunity. That's the best thing about it, you get a new opportunity each week," Turner said.
Chabot hosts Contra Costa on Sept. 30 at 1 p.m.