Kubasaki rallies to down Kadena in football opener

KADENA AIR BASE, Okinawa – Just when things appeared darkest for Kubasaki, Maurice Brown put his arm and legs to work to save the day.

The senior quarterback ran for one touchdown, then passed for the game- winning score with just under three minutes left. The Dragons rallied from a 14-0 deficit to beat Kadena 21-14 in Friday’s DODEA-Pacific season-opening football game, played in on-and-off downpours.

“We told the guys not to give up, not to hang their heads, that we have to chip away,” Dragons coach Tony Alvarado said. “We told them that it has to be a team effort, and they did it. What a thriller. A great way to open.”

With the win, Kubasaki bounced back from its only loss in the last two seasons, 9-0 against Humphreys in last season’s Far East Division I final, the last game ever played at Kubasaki’s Mike Petty Stadium.

From the opening drive, it looked like the game belonged to the Panthers. Carson Kenderdine pounded the ball into the end zone on the game’s second play from 22 yards out to put Kadena up 6-0.

Kadena's Dylan O'Neal returned the opening second-half kickoff for a touchdown. (Kai Redden/Special to Stripes)

Kadena's A.J. Webster runs into Kubasaki's Kaleb Sablan. (Kai Redden/Special to Stripes)

Kadena’s Carson Kenderdine runs through the Kubasaki defense. (Heather Mendoza/Special to Stripes)

Dylan O’Neal doubled that lead by taking the second half’s opening kickoff 80 yards for a touchdown. A.J. Webster ran for a two-point conversion to make it 14-0.

It stayed that way until later in the third quarter, when Brown ran 22 yards to cut the lead in half. Early in the fourth quarter, Keyonte Lopez added a 15-yard touchdown run to tie it.

Kadena then drove to Kubasaki’s 2-yard line but fumbled the ball away to set up the game-winning score, a 45-yard pass from Brown to Alexander Opel to put the Dragons ahead to stay. Opel kicked all three extra points for Kubasaki.

“We were able to move the ball. We just killed ourselves with penalties and mistakes inside the red zone,” Panthers coach Sergio Mendoza said. “We shot ourselves in the foot at various times. But we moved the ball well when we focused.”

Kadena next hosts defending Division I champion Humphreys, while Kubasaki travels to Nile C. Kinnick. Each game kicks off at 6 p.m. Friday.