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First in a series of DODEA-Pacific football team season previews.

After a rough start, Guam High ended its season last year in near-perfect fashion.

Quarterback Jujuan King pitched the ball to brother Juan, who tossed a halfback pass to Xavier Jones for a touchdown that ended the Panthers’ 20-2 third-place game victory over Southern last Oct. 30.

Fast-forward to the start of the 2016 season, the island’s 50th high school football campaign, which begins Friday with the Panthers hosting Tiyan.

Two of those three key players have graduated, along with multipurpose player Trip Chauret, and the Panthers are left with a pocketful of question marks – particularly a line that’s big, but green.

“If you don’t have a beast of an offensive line down here, you’re just not going to last,” sixth-year coach Jacob Dowdell said. “That’s the key to winning the championship here. You try to put it all together.”

The good news: Dowdell does have a couple of solid anchors in the line, each 6-foot sophomores: C.J. Sharp (280 pounds) and Ronald Leuma (310).

They go with other interior workhorses Avery Fernandez, a senior middle linebacker, plus junior defensive end Makoa Bamba and Dowdell’s son, Jaelyn, a 5-11, 175-pound sophomore center.

The bad news: The Panthers still bring thinner numbers to the table, compared to the two teams that played for the island title last year, perennial power George Washington and reigning champion Father Duenas Memorial, which each bring 60 to 70 players.

“We’re lucky if we can bring 30,” Dowdell said.

“We don’t have the size to match up with those guys, whereas my guys are going both ways,” he said. “At the end of the day, you run out of gas. That’s been the difference between us winning championships and just reaching the semifinals.”

The Panthers won their only island title in 2010, the last year Dowdell was an assistant, under then-head coach Billy Henry. Since Dowdell has been at the helm, Guam has won two regular-season titles, only to fall short in the playoffs.

“That year, out of our five linemen, we had five seniors; since then, it’s been near-miss after near-miss,” Dowdell said.

What he’s hoping for is that victory in last season’s third-place game to keep the momentum going. The Panthers started 2-4, only to finish by winning three of their last four games.

“Any time you can end the season with that kind of win, that game was great for us,” Dowdell said. “A great memory to keep us going in the right direction.”

Though the team is on the young side, Dowdell said he’s seeing a positive attitude, from the most senior players down to the youngest rank-and-file. “I’ve seen leadership … all the way down to our newest, youngest guy,” he said.

“They have the heart, the passion, they put the work in; they’re still young,” Dowdell said. “We’re going to see if we can overcome youth on the offensive line, and hopefully, strong defense will augment that.

Ornauer.dave@stripes.com

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Dave Ornauer has been employed by or assigned to Stars and Stripes Pacific almost continuously since March 5, 1981. He covers interservice and high school sports at DODEA-Pacific schools and manages the Pacific Storm Tracker.

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