(Stars and Stripes)

YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan – Yokota is back in the Far East Division II football final. But the Panthers had to survive a tough battle against Osan to secure that berth.

Corey Carpenter rushed for 167 yards on seven carries and three touchdowns, the Panthers used five TD runs of 45 yards or more and pulled away in the fourth quarter to fend off the Cougars 44-20. The game was much closer than the final score indicated.

“The first half was scary,” Yokota coach Michael Woodworth said of a game the Panthers led by just 8-6 at intermission. The tight battle continued until late in the third quarter, after which Yokota scored 22 unanswered points.

With the win, the Panthers improved to 3-2, tied for second place in the D-II standings with Zama, but Yokota earned the finals berth by point differential over the Trojans. The Cougars fell to 0-4.

“In the end, we just outlasted them,” Woodworth said. “My hat’s off to Osan. To fly all the way from Korea, sleep on cots the night before, then come to play a game, that’s tough. They were ready to play. It just so happens, we came out on top.”

Carpenter helped toward that end, rushing for breakaway touchdown runs of 45, 49 and 62 yards. Kysiem Banks added a 75-yard scoring run and Quincy Brown one of 71 yards; they combined for 154 yards on eight carries.

“They were really good at making big plays,” Cougars coach Tyler Greve said. “We need to do better at tackling.”

Osan made one big play of its own, Jordin Chapman throwing a touchdown pass of 90 yards to Joseph Dinofre. Kevin Walsh added a 1-yard scoring plunge and Dinofre a 10-yard TD run.

“I thought we did well on offense,” Greve said. “We moved the ball a lot. We had a really good gameplan.”

Two defenders for Yokota did their best to disrupt that gameplan. Mitchell Powell had 11 tackles and 1 fumble recovery, while Lucious Como had 10 tackles.

“Unbelievable, incredible performance on defense,” Woodworth said of Powell. “Overall, it was a really good team win. The line played really well. That’s what we need going into the championship, is team.”

That championship is scheduled for 7 p.m. Friday at Samurai Field against unbeaten Matthew C. Perry. It’s a rematch of last year’s D-II final, which the Panthers won with a fourth-quarter rally 22-10.

Woodworth and Greve each said they see a bright future for Osan football. “I like them,” Woodworth said. “They’re going to get better, especially with the change in duty (years) for parents.”

The Cougars, comprised of mostly freshmen, had a cumulative level of just six varsity games entering the season, Greve said. “We have come a long way,” he said.