Senior Jericho Williams fills a huge need for Kadena in the backfield, which saw the departure of the Pacific's leading rusher last season, Jason Bland, to graduation. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes )
Senior Jericho Williams fills a huge need for Kadena in the backfield, which saw the departure of the Pacific's leading rusher last season, Jason Bland, to graduation. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes )
Meeting of the offensive minds: Jericho Williams (00), Keagon Longtin (11), Cody Sego (10) and Donte Savoy chat it up with Kadena assistant coach Antiwon Tuck and head coach Sergio Mendoza. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes )
Kadena senior fullback Keagon Longtin takes a handoff from quarterback Cody Sego. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes )
Junior James White headlines three returning starting linemen for the Panthers; he, John Murphy and Siulagisipai Fuimaono average 253 pounds. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)
Junior Cody Sego returns for his second season as starting quarterback. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes )
Kadena's 11th-year football coach Sergio Mendoza. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes )
Second in a series of DODEA-Pacific football team season previews.
KADENA AIR BASE, Okinawa – The Kadena Panthers won the Far East Division I championship the last two seasons, setting a Pacific record with their fifth such title.
But a high rebuilding mountain is standing in the way of a three-peat.
Coach Sergio Mendoza will have to find a replacement for Pacific rushing leader Jason Bland (1,759 yards, 20 touchdowns, 229 carries). Two of Kadena’s starting linemen got their diplomas in June.
“Big vacuum,” said Mendoza, entering his 11th season at the Panthers’ helm. “We’ll be rebuilding. We have some key positions we really have to fill, with our backs gone and with holes in the line.”
It is something that Mendoza and the Panthers have gone through before, losing great backs such as Ernest Carr, Brandon Harris and Vince Coronado from the 2007 champions and Shariff Coleman, Thomas McDonald and Lotty Smith from the 2009-10 champion teams. Bland himself followed in the more recent footsteps of Justin Sego. What Mendoza says he’s always gone back to is the same philosophy.
“I want them to learn life lessons, about themselves and about each other, fighting for each other,” Mendoza said. “And they’re showing that.”
Mendoza teaches English, and says he approaches football from a different perspective than some coaches, hoping his players can take away a “bigger lesson,” about self-discipline, love for each other, sacrifice and focus.
“That’s the most important thing as a coach,” he said. “I could give up coaching. I wouldn’t want to give up teaching.”
Helping him impart those lessons, Mendoza said, is a group of nine players back from last year’s team that beat Kubasaki in the D-I title game for the second straight year.
Back under center is junior quarterback Cody Sego. Senior wideout Donte Savoy will be tried at wingback and at times from the shotgun in Mendoza’s power and wing-T offense.
Mendoza says he plans to try speedy Jericho Williams in the backfield along with senior Keagon Longtin at fullback.
Clearing holes for them are three returning starting linemen, two of them seniors. James White, Siulagisipai Fuimaono and John Murphy average 253 pounds.
The Panthers could make it four appearances in the D-I title game in as many years (they lost to Kubasaki in overtime in 2013). Kadena might get some indication of that possibility Sept. 2 when it visits Kubasaki.
“I don’t want to get caught up” in the hype of chasing a sixth overall title or three straight, Mendoza said. “I want them to be people who can be counted on in life. If winning can be a by-product, then so be it.”
Twitter: @ornauer_stripes
