Chabot football coach Eric Fanene gets first win

The Chabot football team notched its first win of the season and made history in the process.

New head coach Eric Fanene, a former Gladiators assistant with defense in his DNA, earned his first victory with a gritty, come-from-behind 15-9 triumph over De Anza in Cupertino.

Now the Gladiators (1-4) will look to build on the good vibes during their bye week before traveling to Fresno City (3-2) to open play in the National-Valley Conference.

The Gladiators, battling through one of the state’s tougher schedules, have come tantalizingly close in all but one defeat. They’ve lost by two points to Siskiyous, three to DVC and 10 to Butte.

Strong defense made the difference against the Dons, along with a 15-0 run in the second half.

Deangelo Stubbs caught an 8-yard pass from Johnny O’Brien with 3:15 left in the fourth quarter to provide the winning margin, along with a two-point conversion pass by Jhayvee Daily. Earlier, David Teu’s 4-yard TD run in the third quarter followed by a Jason Castro kick trimmed the deficit to 9-7.

Chabot’s stingy defense limited De Anza to just 119 yards passing and sacked the quarterback seven times for a loss of 50 yards. Roope Lindfors led the way with seven total tackles and 2.5 sacks, along with three tackles for loss. Timmy Fisher stepped up with two sacks. Deft sophomore quarterback Johnny O’Brien was 18 for 31 for 191 yards and no interceptions. He ranks ninth in the state averaging 233.4 yards passing per game, with an impressive 66.3 completion percentage.

Teu led Chabot runners with 65 yards on seven carries, and Duane Johnson had five catches for 50 yards.

WOMEN’S SOCCER

The Gladiators (1-4-2, 0-1) battled Ohlone to a 1-1 draw after a 4-0 loss to Evergreen Valley. Kassie Barillas scored off an Adriana Mariscal assist in the first half against Ohlone, but the Renegades rallied for the tie. Chabot goaltender Kathryn Lutes made three saves.

Chabot is at Foothill on Tuesday and host Cabrillo at 4 p.m. on Friday.

MEN’S SOCCER

The Gladiators (1-8-1, 0-0-1 Coast-South) had reason to smile after rallying to earn a 2-2 tie with Las Positas in Coast Conference cross-divisional play. Cristian Guzman scored both Chabot goals with assists going to Edgar Gavino and Brandon Sosa.

Chabot followed with a 3-0 loss at Foothill.

Gladiators coach Tony Igwe hopes his team will start changing “our characteristic” and playing well.

VOLLEYBALL

Still looking for its first win, Chabot (0-6, 0-1) fell to De Anza and West Valley last week by 3-0 scores. The Gladiators host CCSF on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.