CHABOT LOOKS TO REBOUND VS. TOUGH SAC. CITY

The Chabot football team (1-1), with one of the state's top-ranked passing offenses, will look for its second win of the season when it hosts Sacramento City (0-2) at 5 p.m. Saturday at Gladiator Stadium.

The Gladiators are coming off a road loss to Reedley, 35-14, after opening with a 41-24 win over College of the Siskiyous at home. Combatting a tough schedule, Sacramento City lost its opener to highly ranked American River 15-13 on a last-second 50-yard field goal, and then fell to State No. 1-ranked City College of San Francisco 30-10.

Chabot coach Eric Fanene thinks there's plenty of room for improvement from the Reedley game, in which the Gladiators played the Tigers evenly after falling behind 21-0 in the first quarter. The coach is looking for better efficiency from the newly inputted pass-oriented offense and fewer mistakes overall.

"Reedley was very good, they have very good football players," Fanene said. "We can't go down 21-0 with eight minutes left in the first quarter against a good team. Our guys were resilient, they came through. At the end, the defense started playing well, but when you watch the film it's like mistakes. Not to take credit against Reedley's offense, but we gave them great field positioning in that first quarter."

Fanene added that Reedley's final two touchdowns came off blown coverages. He attributes some of the breakdowns to "being young" on defense.

Chabot quarterback Kekoa Turangan (Leilehua-Hawaii) is No. 3 in the state in average passing yards at 338.5 a game. He was 26 for 46 passing for 248 yards and two TDs against Reedley, and slot receiver Damien Moun (Servite-Anaheim) had 11 catches for 107 yards. He is No. 4 in the state in receiving yards at 128 a game, but the Gladiators throw the ball a lot. They expect a lot of yards through the air.

On defense, outside linebacker Koi Mahe (Mt. Eden) is tied for 13th in the state with 19.0 total tackles, including 15 solo (No. 4 in the state). Fanene gives him very high marks for his athleticism and "character."

"Koi's a baller. He's one of our captains," Fanene said. "He appreciates the way we coach."

Mahe, who has a serious motor, wasn't at his best while Reedley was racking up 21 points early, but he showed resilience after that — a trademark of the team.

"Great tackler, plays with great speed, man," Fanene says of Mahe, who played quarterback at Mt. Eden. "He's not the biggest guy, but he plays like a big guy. He's like 5-10 and he plays like a bigtime linebacker. … He does a good job. He's probably one of the best athletes, if not the best athlete, on our team. He still can kick for us. Last year he was our punter, he kicked off. I think he kicked a PAT; he played quarterback and linebacker. He played quarterback in the Laney game."

Raymond Orozco (San Lorenzo) and Ismael Sanchez (San Leandro) have handled the bulk of the carries, combining for 105 yards on 24 carries.

Sacramento City is no slouch. The Panthers have a stout defense and will no doubt try to take away the same things Reedley did against Chabot. CCSF is the defending national champs, but Sacramento led 7-0 in the third quarter after a scoreless first half on a 48-yard TD pass from Jemal Francois to Miles Williams.

"Their defense looks very stout," Fanene said of Sac. City. "They're going to be bringing pressure from everywhere. … They have athletes everywhere. … Their defense is good, they're probably going to be the top ones that we're gonna see."