TOKYO – A new quarterback and a pair of defensive scoring plays proved to be the winning tonic as the American School In Japan got its first football victory of the season Friday.

Jack Ambrosino launched a 12-yard scoring pass to Franz Cerwinka and went 3-for-3 for 42 yards. Meanwhile, Andrew Meaney returned a fumble 23 yards for a score and Takudo Wada returned a pick-six 51 yards and the Mustangs galloped to victory 48-6 over Zama.

“We’re feeling good right now,” ASIJ coach John Seevers said. “Jack did a great job, the offensive line stepped up and we had no turnovers. That was big for us. Everything kind of clicked for us.”

Ray Hotta, Marc Kawada, Alex Carroll and Wada each had rushing touchdowns for the Mustangs, who had a season-high 159 yards rushing. Cerwinka added an interception for the Mustangs, who had three total takeaways. Hotta finished with a team-high 100 all-purpose yards.

Zama’s lone touchdown came on a 5-yard third-quarter run by Zach Dignan. Despite the one-sided defeat, coach Scott Bolin felt his team showed some hints of what it could do in the second half.

“We started to play the kind of ball that we want to play,” Bolin said. “We finished strong. We just have to start strong and not put ourselves in a hole.”

Zama’s next game is its homecoming against Yokota on Friday; kickoff is at 7 p.m. ASIJ travels to Robert D. Edgren, also for a 7 p.m. Friday kickoff.

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