Yokota subs in new snapper and doesn’t miss a beat

MARINE CORPS AIR STATION IWAKUNI, Japan — Michael Woodworth got one of those phone calls that every coach dreads before his Yokota football team set off on its journey to play Matthew C. Perry — his starting center, Cooper Kenney, caught the flu and could not play.

So the Panthers’ coach rolled the dice, asking sophomore Raffaele Ricco-Carson if he would step in. And the backup center showed he was more than up to the task, helping anchor Yokota to its second straight shutout victory, 52-0 over the Samurai.

“He was the story of the game,” Woodworth said of Ricco-Carson. On one of the bus stops along the expressway to Iwakuni, “we worked with him. That kid did not know he was going to be snapping the ball. And he did outstanding. That’s a lot of pressure on somebody that young.”

Ricco-Carson only had one bad snap the entire game, one reason that Liam Douglas went 7-for-9 for 119 yards, including touchdown passes of 49 yards to Luke Beck, 35 to Kysiem Banks and 45 to Keito Kawamura-Johnson.

Banks added scoring runs of 17, 5 and 20 yards. Maximus Villanueva dashed 25 yards for a TD. And Jayden Hooker recorded his second pick-six in as many weeks, returning an interception 30 yards for a touchdown.

“He’s just come alive,” Woodworth said of Hooker, who also had a pick-six in Yokota’s 53-0 win last Friday over Robert D. Edgren. “He’s been in the right place at the right time. He’s getting a sense of the field, how plays develop, where the quarterback is looking.”

Friday’s game ended with 5:02 left in the fourth quarter, due to DODEA-Pacific’s football mercy rule, same as last week against the Eagles.

One bright spot for Perry was Jerry Cordero, who returned a kickoff deep into Panthers territory, but was knocked out of bounds before he could reach the end zone. “That gave us good field position,” Samurai coach A.J. Edwards said.

Perry next Friday travels to Edgren, while the Panthers host Division II-leading Zama, both at 6 p.m. Friday. The latter could determine host rights to the D-II final Sept. 23.

Perry's George Rodriguez punts the ball against Yokota. (Leon DeJesus/Special to Stripes)

Perry’s Kalil Jones tries to avoid Yokota’s Lucious Como. (Leon DeJesus/Special to Stripes)

Perry's Jerry Cordero dashes around left end against Yokota's Isaiah Sideno. (Leon DeJesus/Special to Stripes)