Yokota QB Marcus Henagan leads the Pacific in all-purpose yards, with 779, plus 10 touchdowns on 48 total plays for the Panthers, who are 3-0 and lead the region with 159 points scored. (Jack Higbee/Special to Stars and Stripes)
On the road again.
That’s the prevailing theme for this season’s DODDS Pacific high school’s football strong men, who take to the road this weekend, hoping to strengthen their chances for spots in their respective Far East championship games.
¬¬-- Kubasaki (2-0), which won the Okinawa season series with Kadena, makes its longest regular-season trip of the year, nearly 1,000 miles. This is the Dragons’ first visit to American School In Japan, a traditional Kanto Plain power struggling this season at 0-3.
-- Yokota (3-0), which leads the Pacific with 159 points scored, looks to sweep its season series with Matthew C. Perry, only this time the Panthers must face the Samurai following a 10-hour, 520-mile bus ride.
“It’s great to know they’re a part of our program, to finally have them on our schedule,” Kubasaki coach Fred Bales said of a Mustangs team that is playing a full D-I schedule for the first time.
ASIJ won the Kanto Plain in 1981, 1983, 1994, 2009 and the last two seasons and began playing against Kubasaki and Kadena in 2014, but never played a D-I schedule to include Seoul American until this season. ASIJ lost at home to Seoul American 34-26 on Sept. 12.
“They add a lot of class, a lot of tradition and we’re happy to give them a go,” Bales said.
Kubasaki brings quite the arsenal to Mustang Valley on what promises to be a rainy autumn day.
Quarterback Isaiah Johnson has 159 yards and three touchdowns on 22 carries and is 21-for-37 for 367 yards and six touchdowns on the season. His two favorite targets: Miles Mahlock has 207 yards and three touchdowns and Jacob Green 129 yards and two TDs on eight catches each.
“We’ll have our hands full,” said coach John Seevers of an ASIJ team that’s young in both the line and backfield. “But we won’t lay down and say die.”
Veterans also populate Yokota’s line and skills positions. Quarterback Marcus Henagan paces the Pacific in all-purpose yards (442 yards, five touchdowns rushing; 9-for-15, 192 yards, four touchdowns passing), while fullback Jamarvin Harvey has 343 yards and six TDs. Shota Sprunger has 240 yards and four TDs.
But coach Tim Pujol feels the Samurai could give his Panthers a tighter game; two turnovers and a bad punt snap set up three of Yokota’s first four touchdowns, otherwise it might have been a closer contest.
“They’re well coached,” Pujol said of Samurai mentor Frank Macias. “The score (55-7) of that game does not anywhere come close to indicate the difference between the two teams. We capitalized on the opponents’ mistakes, turned it into momentum; that can be discouraging for the other team.”
Much can depend, Pujol said, on the opposing crowd, the opposing field, the lengthy bus ride, any number of factors. “We do what we can to prepare the team for the game, but in the end, the kids will decide it on the field,” Pujol said.
