Zama airs it out and deflates Yokota’s attack

CAMP ZAMA, Japan — In what was expected to be a battle of star running backs, a transfer receiver from DODEA’s largest overseas school stole the show.

Milo Ivulich, a senior from Ramstein Air Base in Germany, caught three of Thomas Diaz’s five touchdown passes and the Trojans’ defense stifled two-time defending Far East Division I champion Yokota in a 43-7 rout Friday.

Ivulich has never played football until this season, he said.

“We had to convince his parents to let him play,” Zama coach Shawen Smith said.

“It took a lot of convincing,” said Diaz, who threw touchdown passes of 14, 18 and 37 yards to Ivulich, as well as a 28-yarder to Christian Cassidy and an 11-yard scoring strike to Andrew Romero.

Diaz said he has plenty of faith in Ivulich. “He’s an excellent route runner, a speed burner,” Diaz said. “He’s just an excellent overall athlete.”

His focus when catching passes wasn’t so much on scoring as it was moving the chains, Ivulich said.

“I was thinking mainly about technique, what my body was doing, what I should be doing,” Ivulich said. “I was out there to secure the ball and get yards. The touchdowns, I did for my team.”

The Trojans led throughout, scoring the game’s first 20 points before the Panthers got on the board with an 82-yard kick-return touchdown by Keito Kawamura-Johnson with 6:34 left in the first half.

From there, Diaz threw two more TD passes and Gabriel Simpkins returned a punt 88 yards for a score. Diaz finished 9-for-14 for 123 yards.

As for the two backs who were thought to be the game’s headliners, Simpkins, a senior, rushed 13 times for 78 yards and totaled 190 all-purpose yards. He has four touchdowns on the season.

“Big moment for us,” Simpkins said. “Everybody did their part.”

Yokota senior Kysiem Banks played only the first 1½ quarters before being ejected following back-to-back unsportsmanlike conduct penalties. He rushed seven times for 29 yards and had two returns for 38 yards.

Zama’s defense held the Panthers to a net minus-10 yards on 37 plays. Yokota turned the ball over on fumbles four times. The Trojans racked up 193 yards on 39 plays in a game played in on-and-off showers.

“We had some execution issues,” Panthers coach Michael Woodworth said. The week before, Yokota played nine-man format in a 53-22 win at Osan “and every time we do that, going from nine- to 11-man, a lot of mistakes happen. We’ll have those fixed by next week.”

Yokota did have a big game in return yardage, totaling 251 yards plus Kawamura-Johnson’s TD on eight returns.

The Panthers play their first home game against Matthew C. Perry, while Zama heads to Osan to play the Cougars. Each kickoff is at 6 p.m. Friday.

Yokota's Liam Douglas gets rid of the football in the face of Zama's pass rush. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)

When he wasn't running the ball on keepers, Zama's Thomas Diaz was busy throwing five touchdown passes. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)