Terry Stephens got quite a going-away present in his final game for the Osan American Cougars — a spot in Korea high school football’s history book.

The senior running back broke his Korea game rushing record with 343 yards and four touchdowns on 25 carries as the Cougars closed the season by defeating Taegu American 40-12 on Saturday at Camp Walker’s Kelly Field.

Stephens’ total ranks third in Pacific history. Stephens trails only Corey Dunlap-Buckmon of Guam’s Simon Sanchez Sharks, who ran for 384 on Oct. 27, 2001, and 351 on Nov. 9, 2001.

Stephens snapped his Korea record of 327 yards on 13 carries, set Oct. 2 against Taegu, and finished the season with 1,008 yards on 87 carries.

Stephens was due to leave Osan on Sunday; he’ll be playing basketball for a private school in Tennessee this winter.

Elsewhere, the Guam High Panthers’ dream of advancing to the Guam Interscholastic League semifinals came to a crushing end when the John F. Kennedy Islanders scored two fourth-quarter touchdowns and used a goal-line stand in the closing minutes to edge the Panthers 13-6 at JFK’s Ramsey Field.

Osan American 40, Taegu American 12

At Camp Walker, South Korea, Osan’s offensive line wanted to help Stephens break not only the Korea record, but the Pacific record as well, coach Tony Alvarado said.

“All week long, we knew it was coming. That was the offensive line’s mission, their motivation this week,” Alvarado said.

After Stephens torched Seoul American for 269 carries on 27 carries two weeks earlier, “we really had some confidence in our line. They said they wanted to give it to him,” Alvarado said. “We were trying for the big one. We wanted to make a statement.”

That Stephens had to leave Korea before World Bowl XII on Nov. 13 at Seoul American, pitting the Korea All-Stars against the Singapore All-Star Falcons, was “very sad to see,” Alvarado said. “I’d like to have seen him out there, maybe get a little revenge” for Singapore’s 55-6 victory last year.

Though Stephens put up big numbers, it wasn’t until his fourth touchdown, a 70-yard scamper, that Taegu was “containing him,” Alvarado said. “Taegu came out well today. They have a nice, young quarterback and they only lose two seniors. We look forward to seeing them next year.”

Stephens added TD runs of 1, 21 and 16 yards, threw a 24-yard halfback option touchdown pass to Chris Durham and also intercepted a Taegu pass. Carlos Albadalejo returned an interception 51 yards for a score.

All that offset a gallant performance by Warriors quarterback Mychal McGee, who threw touchdowns of 31 yards to Daniel Pressley and 30 to Sidney Washington. Taegu had two drives short-circuited by fumbles.

Pressley ran 13 times for 114 yards and Washington finished with 97 yards on 16 carries. Angel Hickman and McGee had eight tackles each and Stephan Scott added six.

John F. Kennedy 13, Guam High 6

At Upper Tumon, Guam, Dustin Lopez intercepted a pass by JFK quarterback Peter Castillon, then caught a 33-yard pass from Doug Bloom in the closing seconds to give the Panthers a first down at the JFK 6 with two seconds left, but the Islanders’ defense held on.

The outcome was vastly different from the Islanders’ 35-6 triumph over Guam High three weeks earlier. Castillon sneaked 4 yards for a touchdown and Jerry Torres scored on a 1-yard run, fueling JFK’s fourth-quarter rally from a 6-0 deficit.

Lopez gave Guam High the lead in the first quarter on a 54-yard run off a reverse. He caught two passes for 41 yards and ran six times for 64 yards. Josh Carpenter had five tackles for the Panthers.

Guam High finished 2-5 a season after reaching the island semifinals for the first time. JFK advanced to Saturday’s semifinal against regular-season champion Father Duenas Memorial, and Simon Sanchez faces defending champion George Washington in Friday’s other semifinal.

Migrated