Subscribe
Kadena Islanders running back Keith Loving cuts through between Kadena Buccaneers defenders during Friday's game. Loving ran 27 times for 219 yards and three touchdowns as the Islanders won 37-12, earning their first trip to the Rising Sun Bowl.

Kadena Islanders running back Keith Loving cuts through between Kadena Buccaneers defenders during Friday's game. Loving ran 27 times for 219 yards and three touchdowns as the Islanders won 37-12, earning their first trip to the Rising Sun Bowl. (Dave Ornauer / S&S)

Kadena Islanders running back Keith Loving cuts through between Kadena Buccaneers defenders during Friday's game. Loving ran 27 times for 219 yards and three touchdowns as the Islanders won 37-12, earning their first trip to the Rising Sun Bowl.

Kadena Islanders running back Keith Loving cuts through between Kadena Buccaneers defenders during Friday's game. Loving ran 27 times for 219 yards and three touchdowns as the Islanders won 37-12, earning their first trip to the Rising Sun Bowl. (Dave Ornauer / S&S)

Islanders defensive end David Willkins, right, wrestles Buccaneers quarterback Tyler Schmidt to the ground during Friday's game.

Islanders defensive end David Willkins, right, wrestles Buccaneers quarterback Tyler Schmidt to the ground during Friday's game. (Dave Ornauer / S&S)

Islanders fullback Ted Awana barrels his way between Buccaneers defenders Gary Wright, top, and Alex Weaver.

Islanders fullback Ted Awana barrels his way between Buccaneers defenders Gary Wright, top, and Alex Weaver. (Dave Ornauer / S&S)

Buccaneers quarterback Tyler Schmidt tries to elude the defensive pressure of the Islanders' Greg Munroe.

Buccaneers quarterback Tyler Schmidt tries to elude the defensive pressure of the Islanders' Greg Munroe. (Dave Ornauer / S&S)

KADENA AIR BASE, Okinawa — The Kadena Islanders have risen to heights unprecedented in their 24-season history.

Keith Loving’s 219 yards and three touchdowns spearheaded an Islanders ground game that netted 354 yards and five TDs, carrying them to a 37-12 victory Friday over the Kadena Buccaneers in the Okinawa Activities Council title game — the Islanders’ first outright league crown since 1983.

“They [Bucs] had been playing the best football on the island, but we knew our best football was still within us,” Islanders coach Sergio Mendoza said. “We still haven’t played our best football yet.”

The Islanders earned another team first — the right to travel to Tokyo for Saturday’s Rising Sun Bowl VI against the four-time defending champion Yokota Panthers at Yokota Air Base.

“You don’t know how proud I am to work with a man [Mendoza] who’s been at the bottom at 0-8 (2002 season) and is going to the Rising Sun Bowl,” Islanders offensive coordinator Steve Schrock said.

The Buccaneers, the defending OAC champions, finished 4-4.

Mendoza admitted to worrying a great deal about the Bucs preceding Friday’s game.

The Bucs beat the Kubasaki Shogun 26-13 in the regular-season finale and the Kubasaki Samurai 34-21 in the OAC semifinals Oct. 29, while the Islanders had to rally to beat the Samurai 17-14 on Oct. 22 and overcome seven turnovers to hold off the Shogun 21-16 in the other semifinal.

“I thought they [Bucs] had the momentum,” Mendoza said. “They beat the Shogun and Samurai more soundly than we did.”

So the Islanders spent the week preparing as they had not done for any other game this season, even their first two meetings with the Bucs, which they won 26-0 on Sept. 17 and 27-14 three weeks later.

“We studied tape like animals all week,” Mendoza said. “We got our blocking assignments down. We reorganized and refocused back to what got us here and stuck with that.”

And they broke onto the scoreboard right away, converting the first of two interceptions by Stcyr Madayag into a Loving 4-yard touchdown run. One possession later, Loving burrowed in from 25 yards out, making it 14-0.

That’s how it stood at halftime, helped by an Islanders’ goal-line stand, stopping Bucs quarterback Tyler Schmidt on a keeper at the Islanders’ 3.

Forced to go to the air with a variety of multiple receiver sets, Schmidt found wideout Jacob Love from 30 yards out to open the second half, but the Islanders responded on Ted Awana’s 12-yard TD run, capping a 60-yard, eight-play drive in 3:32.

David McCowan, who missed most of the second half of the season, added an 8-yard TD romp on the Islanders’ next possession.

“It was nice to have them both back in the saddle,” Mendoza said of Loving and McCowan, who finished with 106 yards on 16 tries. “It makes for a more diverse game for us. The defense can’t key on just one person.”

Awana added a 34-yard field goal to make it 30-6 with 8:21 left. Love returned the ensuing kickoff 50 yards and cut the gap to 30-12 on a 3-yard TD run, but Loving scored from 6 yards out with 1:30 left to cap a 65-yard, 12-play march in 6:21.

Loving finished with 280 all-purpose yards. Hunter Harveston blocked a punt and recorded a sack for the Islanders’ defense, which held the Bucs to 167 yards.

Schmidt had 170 all-purpose yards plus an interception, and Love contributed 129 all-purpose yards for the Bucs.

“We weren’t ready for them,” Bucs coach Brian Wetherington said. “They came out prepared and showed by they went undefeated. We came out flat and they came out high-tempo. We wish them good luck next week.”

Nile C. Kinnick 46, Robert D. Edgren 12

At Yokosuka Naval Base, Japan, Leonard Lynce closed out his Red Devils career in style, gaining 269 yards of total offense and scoring four times as Kinnick ended the Japan Football League season with a happy homecoming.

Lynce ran 10 times for 195 yards, including touchdowns of 56 and 7 yards, caught TD passes of 59 and 15 yards and had 11 tackles — all in the first half.

Adam Krievs added 90 yards on five attempts, including scoring runs of 4 and 10 yards, and led the Devils with 11 tackles.

Jarvis Williams added touchdown runs of 19 and 11 yards and finished with 117 yards on six carries. David McDermott went 3-for-5 for 117 yards and caught a touchdown pass of 11 yards from Ken Long.

The Eagles, who lost their last three games, got touchdowns from Josh Bonick on a 2-yard run in the first quarter and Woody Carter on a 4-yard fourth-quarter run.

Sign Up for Daily Headlines

Sign up to receive a daily email of today's top military news stories from Stars and Stripes and top news outlets from around the world.

Sign Up Now