Entering their second home game 0-3, Vikings football left Friday’s matchup against Chabot College with a resounding 44-20 victory.

“It’s great to get our first win, especially after the three weeks we’ve had,” said head coach Mike Darr. “They’ve played well enough to win all three (previous) games and they knew it. Playing hard was never a problem so it’s nice for them to have that reward walking off.”

DVC’s wide receivers led the charge in Friday night’s victory, most notably sophomore Diante Jackson, who played in the Rose Bowl with Oregon for the 2009-2010 season before coming to DVC.

Jackson thanked fellow wide receiver Andre’ Lewis for allowing him to get open on several occasions against Chabot.

“(We) started off slow… but we got it together in the second half and learned from our mistakes… it ain’t even about the numbers to tell you the truth, I’m just glad that we got the win,” said Jackson.

While it may not be about the numbers for Jackson, it easily could be. Jackson scored three touchdowns against Chabot and entered the game leading the state in receptions. (Teammates Cameron Rowland and Andre’ Lewis were second and eighth, respectively.)

Jackson said, “(Oregon) wasn’t the right fit for me, I didn’t wanna go there at first, I kind of got forced to go, a lot of people don’t know that.”

Jackson said he took time off from football to get himself in the right mindset after his father passed away last year. “I was out partying and doing the wrong things, and I’m better than that. This is me getting myself back together.”

Lewis spoke on the team’s pregame attitude against a Chabot College team that was also 0-3 going into Friday’s game, “We came in with the mentality that we were gonna eat and fight all four quarters. We couldn’t come out flat.”

DVC, which lost to Chabot last season, made sure the game was never too close, leaving the first half with a 24-11 lead, and giving up just nine points in the second half.

The Vikings’ first home game against Santa Rosa on Sept. 7 was a much closer game throughout, and this proved detrimental for DVC, which staged a second half comeback to no avail. The comeback ended with a DVC touchdown just inside the two-minute warning mark that gave them a lead of 26-20.

However, Santa Rosa would deliver the knockout blow with a touchdown and two-point conversion with less than a minute to go, making the final score 28-26.

“Our mistakes and our penalties forced us to lose that game and on top (of that) we didn’t finish,” said cornerback Malachi Harris. “My job in the Santa Rosa game was to take away big pass plays. We weren’t where we were supposed to be so we focused in practice on that.”

DVC’s next home game will be against Reedley College on Oct. 12.