The article below originally appeared in the San Mateo Daily Journal and is being reprinted with permission.

College of San Mateo was halfway home to its greatest defensive stand of the young season before a penalty and an equipment malfunction intervened.

In the middle of that defensive stand was freshman defensive tackle Tukua Ahoia, one of the new faces on a revamped CSM defensive line. CSM saw three defensive linemen transfer after last season, the highlight of which was defensive tackle Ratu Mafileo, who departed after his freshman season to commit with three years of Division I eligibility — he initially committed at Texas A&M, but then changed his mind and transferred to the University of Oregon two weeks prior to the start of the fall semester, according to The Oregonian.

The beneficiary in the Bulldogs’ ranks was Ahoia, a grayshirt freshman two years removed from graduating from St. Francis-Mountain View in 2014. And he was right in the middle of the scrum that nearly proved the panacea for flawed CSM performance that included four turnovers and 127 yards in penalties in an eventual 34-31 loss to Fresno City College.

“I think the big thing was the momentum shifts,” Ahoia said. “We made a lot of mistakes but I’m glad of how hard we fought.”

CSM jumped out to a 31-21 lead in the opening minute of the fourth quarter on an explosive 97-yard touchdown return by Rahsaan Fontenette. Explosive kickoff returns in recent memory have come courtesy of 2015 All-American kickoff returner Ramiah Marshall, who actually levied the clinching block just inside the 30-yard line on Fontenette’s big touchdown return.

Midway through the fourth quarter, however, a fumble near midfield by Marshall gave Fresno second life. The resulting Rams drive was a gritty one. But on the seventh play of the drive, including a 15-yard pass completion by quarterback Andrew Zimmerman on fourth-and-10, Zimmerman completed a 34-yarder to advance the ball to the CSM 1-yard line.

That’s when Ahoia dug in to lead two consecutive stops. Both were draw plays to sophomore Nate Jones, Fresno’s rushing leader; but both were met by Ahoia. First the 6-foot, 330-pounud freshman teamed with sophomore defensive back Kevin Powers to drill Jones for a 2-yard loss. Then on second-and-goal from the 3, Ahoia and sophomore safety Josh Clarke stopped Jones at the line of scrimmage for no gain, with Ahoia emerging from the pile energized and seeming determined to prove the immovable object at the middle of the Bulldogs defense.

“That’s all my backers,” Ahoia said of the tandem stops. “Today all our backers solidified us pretty well.”

Then two things went haywire for the Bulldogs. First, Ahoia’s helmet came jarred loose in the second-half scrum, forcing him off the field until he could repair it. Then, the ensuing replacements running onto the field caused some confusion, which led to CSM being slapped with a 12-men-on-the-field penalty, moving the ball inside the 2-yard line.

“That penalty, all those penalties in the fourth quarter were key to [Fresno’s] success,” Ahoia said.

With Ahoia forced to the sidelines, and half his work negated by the yellow flag, Fresno powered into the end zone on third down with a dive by fullback Elgin Austin, setting the stage for a Rams comeback as they finished the game by scoring 13 unanswered points.