MANGILAO, Guam – George Washington, the most decorated football program in island history, avenged its Bamboo Bowl loss last year to Guam High in a big way Saturday.

Keanu Lujan rushed for two touchdowns and Derek Santos tossed a second-half TD pass as the Geckos (2-0) pounded the Panthers 35-0, handing Guam High (2-1) its first loss of the season and taking over first place in the Interscholastic Football League.

Guam High beat GW 7-6 in the IFL’s championship game last October.

Saturday’s game was a “wakeup call,” coach Jacob Dowdell said, for a Panthers team that had outscored its first two foes 69-0, but was “overpowered,” Dowdell said, by a GW line bigger and more physical than Guam High’s.

“We made some key mistakes; we showed our youth in a lot of areas,” Dowdell said. “GW looked like a senior group of kids. We couldn’t get any traction, couldn’t establish momentum and shot ourselves in the foot with too many freshman penalties.”

Guam High’s special teams, in particular, didn’t take care of the football, putting the Panthers in too many holes and giving the Geckos short fields too many times, Dowdell said.

“Our defense did an outstanding job all night. But our special teams put us in too many predicaments and their (GW’s) line overpowered us,” Dowdell said. “They did a good job of scouting, a good job of coaching by them.”

Damian Demick led Guam High with 60 yards on five carries. Theatris Eaton had 11 tackles and Logan Eaton nine.

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