It was a near perfect performance in all three phases of the game; quarterback Santino Chavez threw for three touchdowns, safety David DeMenezes picked Chabot off twice and kicker Jo Jo Martinez drilled a 54-yard field goal in Saturday night’s win at Bailey Field.
Offensively, the Bear Cubs couldn’t be stopped. It didn’t matter if it was through the air or on the ground, almost every play resulted in yards gained. Chavez cemented himself as the top quarterback, throwing for over 200 yards and three touchdowns.
Star wide receiver Isaac Torres put on a clinic against the Chabot secondary. Torres reeled in ten catches for 111 yards and two touchdowns. On Torres’ first touchdown, he blew past his defender on a go-route and Chavez delivered the ball right in stride for an easy 30-yard touchdown.
Later in the game, Chavez rifled a beautiful back shoulder fade in the corner of the endzone, Torres acrobatically tapped both feet in bounds for each other’s second touchdown.
Chavez slung a pass to his left to wide receiver Andre Duvall on a screen for his third touchdown. Duvall followed his blockers and slithered into the end zone. The screen game was exceptional because of the cushion Chabot’s cornerbacks gave the receivers.
Demenezes played the game of his life picking off Gladiator’s quarterback Kekoa Turangan twice. The tip drill worked to perfection on Demenezes first interception. The ball was batted around by two defenders before Demenezes hauled it in and returned it for a massive 67-yard pick-six.
Holding it down in the middle were linebackers Dimitri Johnson, Dillon Tingle and Kobi Buckley. Johnson forced multiple pressures on Turangan and recorded one sack.
However, one sack doesn’t give Johnson enough credit. He was constantly in the Gladiator’s backfield and made Turangan’s night frustratingly long, lighting him up multiple times.
Chabot played with a fast no-huddle pace throughout the game, never taking a conventional huddle. It never broke the Bear Cubs’ defense as they turned the Gladiators over on downs multiple times. The defense forced four punts, one being blocked by Johnson.
After a few lackluster weeks, the running game finally came to fruition. In his first game, running back Gavin Lemos scored two touchdowns. He punched in the opening touchdown by running over a Chabot defender at the goal line and extended the ball to break the plane.
It wasn’t only Lemos who feasted on a poor Chabot running-defense, running backs Rasheed Rankin and Bryan Berry were on fire. Rankin and Berry moved the chains time and time again with their rough and powerful running style. By the end of the night, Chabot’s defense didn’t want any part in trying to tackle them.
Kickers are people too, especially in Jo Jo Martinez’ case. On Santa Rosa’s second-offensive drive, a false start penalty prevented them from going for it on fourth and long. Instead, Martinez trotted onto the field and drilled a 54-yard field goal, an impressive feat for a kicker at the Junior College level and fired up the Bear Cubs sideline.
The Bear Cubs look to ride the momentum they gained from this win, next week against Reedley College at 2 p.m Oct. 1 at Reedley’s high school stadium.
