YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan – They’d suffered the mother of all turnover nightmares the previous week in a 42-0 loss to Yokota, coughing up four fumbles and an interception which led to 27 points.

And that was in good weather.

Playing in game-long 40-mph winds and heavy second-half rain Friday, Nile C. Kinnick cleaned up the mistakes and got a touchdown run each by Dustin Kimberll and John Allen in its first win of the season, 14-0 over American School In Japan.

“We won the turnover battle and that was it,” coach Daniel Joley said after getting his first win for Kinnick (1-3) after transferring from North Side High School in Fort Wayne, Ind.

Kimberll, shaking off an injury sustained last week, ran 27 times for 116 yards and Richard Villareal eight times for 83. Allen ran for 21 yards on seven carries and Quinton Holden had a crucial third-quarter interception.

“We told our running backs to take us where we needed to go,” Joley said.

Kimbrell scored on a 2-yard, first-quarter run after ASIJ was forced to punt on its 1-yard line. Thomas Hollingshead deflected the punt and kept it deep in ASIJ territory. ASIJ had been forced to start the possession from its own 1, thanks to a 74-yard wind-aided punt.

“That’s the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen in all my years of coaching football,” Joley said. “The wind doesn’t blow like that in Indiana. This was the windiest game I’ve ever coached in.”

Allen ensured the victory with his fourth-quarter TD run.

The win should give Kinnick “a lot of confidence,” Joley said. “I told the guys to trust the coaches. We’ll get them to wherever they need to be. If they play with pride and passion, they’ll win. They’re starting to buy into what we’re doing.”

ASIJ (2-2) played without its most potent weapon, quarterback Hayden Jardine, who was in the States attending his grandmother’s funeral.

Backup Cody Hadden was 1-for-3 for just 3 yards; as a team, ASIJ managed just 77 yards. Nathan Kwon had 29 yards on 12 carries and Andrew Stern 28 on seven.

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