By Steve R. Waterhouse

 

HAYWARD — This wasn't the kind of restart the Chabot College football team was looking for.

Coming off a canceled season due to COVID-19, the Gladiators fell 41-7 to visiting Fresno City Saturday afternoon in their long-awaited nonconference opener.

It marked first Chabot's first game since a loss to Laney on Nov. 16, 2019.

While the rust was obvious, it wasn't the first thing that troubled the Gladiators (0-1). That came in the injury department.

A major setback came on the first play of the game when 6-foot-6 offensive lineman Shively Fua went down with a leg injury.

"Lose a Division I tackle right there," Chabot head  coach Eric Fanene said. "He's our best guy."

On Chabot's next offensive series, another starting offensive lineman, 6-7 Christopher Pole, went down with a leg injury.

"Lose our other tackle," Fanene said. "Another top guy."

To make matters worse, starting quarterback L.T. Beck departed with a concussion with 11:08 left in the second quarter.

"That changes everything, as it was seen," Fanene said. "That just changes your game plan. Have your quarterback and two tackles take all the reps in practice this week. And then you have these young-ins that are straight out of high school. And you know what, they did all right."

And while offensive struggles seemed imminent after that trio of injuries, it was still a competitive game in the first half.

The Gladiators (ranked No. 25t in the Junior College Athletic Bureau poll) featured a stingy defense, despite a lopsided final score. Chabot held an explosive Fresno City (1-0) offense to just 154 yards of (104 passing) and a hard-earned 14 points in the first half.

But the cards were definitely stacked up against Chabot.

The Gladiators had the game's first offensive possession, and four plays later, a bad snap in a punting situation led to a first-and-goal for the No. 12 Rams at the Chabot 7-yard line.

Still, the Gladiators didn't roll over. It took a hard-earned seven yards and four plays before Fresno struck with a touchdown on a quarterback keeper by Justin Holaday and an early 7-0 lead.

That Chabot defense showed a lot of promise, forcing a punt and a scoreless possession with the next two series. Chabot's defense would bend, but refused to give up a big play in the first half.

It was almost fitting that the only score for Chabot came from the defense.

With just over four minutes left in the game, Fresno quarterback Isaiah Robles hit wide receiver Tabari Rollins near the left hash mark, but a streaking Jaymin Galios dashed in a punched the ball loose.

An alert Kingston Sapoi scooped the ball up at the 22 and raced into the end zone.

"They did a bubble route and I didn't know it was going to fall out of his hands," Sapoi said. "I didn't think there was going to be the whole crowd celebrating when I scored that because we were getting blown out. When I came back and (saw) everyone celebrating, it made me feel like I contributed."

It was especially gratifying for Sapoi, a newcomer to the program who moved here from Utah two months ago, and only a phone call to Fanene led to him playing for the Gladiators.