Eagles get waxed by rival Chabot College in final game
Ugh.
That describes the effort and result in Laney College’s season-ending 48–21 defeat at the hands of rival Chabot College on Nov. 13 in Oakland.
The Eagles finished the season with a 4–6 overall record and were 1–4 in the National Valley Conference. Laney had a slight chance to get a bowl bid with a 5–5 mark (indeed, two bowl teams did have that record) but the loss to the Gladiators (8–2, 5–0) put the kibosh on that thought. The team had gone to three consecutive postseason games.
The defeat was the fourth straight Chabot victory over Laney and it was the first in that span that didn’t go down to the final minutes.
The Eagles could consider themselves lucky; The Glads put up 76 points against the College of San Mateo in a 76–55 victory in the Northern California Football Championship semifinals on Nov. 20.
The Chabot-Laney contest was pretty much decided in the second quarter when the Gladiators went up 24–0.
Things started to deteriorate midway through the first quarter when Chabot drove 86 yards in 14 plays to score its first touchdown with 4:11 left. The Eagles committed three personal fouls (good for 45 yards) to help the Gladiators along.
Laney went three-and-out on its next series and Chabot quarterback Jose Ferreira threw a 58-yard touchdown pass to Alan Busey on the first play from scrimmage for 14–0.
The Eagles lost a fumble on their next series, but held off the Chabot offense, forcing an 18-yard field goal from Ivan Flores that put the Glads up 17–0 with 58 seconds left in the first quarter.
The Eagles lost another fumble midway through the second quarter and Ferreira throw a 9-yard scoring pass to Jay Dennis with 7:34 left to push the lead to 24–0.
Laney finally put some points on the board, helped by two Chabot personal foul penalties. Quarterback Stevie Farmer threw a 5-yard scoring pass to Nesley Ostral with 1:34 left in the half to cut the lead to 24–7.
The Eagles couldn’t get started in the second half and a Flores 18-yard field goal gave the Gladiators a 27–7 lead.
Laney twice cut the Chabot lead to 13 points. Running back Ryan Gordon ran for a 6-yard touchdown with 3:06 left in the third quarter. Gordon (11 carries, 72 yards) carried on four straight plays and gained 35 yards, including the TD.
But Chabot scored again, this time with 14:27 left in the game for a 34–14 lead. The Eagles scored their final touchdown when Farmer threw a 60-yard scoring strike to Jay Yesin to cut the lead to 34–21 with 13:38 left.
But that was it. The Gladiators scored two more touchdowns for a 48–21 final and Laney was locked out of a bowl.