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Yokota's Marquis Smith-Brown dashes upfield away from Edgren's Raphael Lykins.

Yokota's Marquis Smith-Brown dashes upfield away from Edgren's Raphael Lykins. (Caitlin Blount/Special to Stars and Stripes)

Yokota's Marquis Smith-Brown dashes upfield away from Edgren's Raphael Lykins.

Yokota's Marquis Smith-Brown dashes upfield away from Edgren's Raphael Lykins. (Caitlin Blount/Special to Stars and Stripes)

Robert D. Edgren quarterback Patrick Sledge is surrounded by Yokota defenders.

Robert D. Edgren quarterback Patrick Sledge is surrounded by Yokota defenders. (Caitlin Blount/Special to Stars and Stripes)

MISAWA AIR BASE, Japan – Yokota rebounded from its only loss of the season in style Friday, shutting out Robert D. Edgren 49-0.

But coach Tim Pujol said he feels the Panthers still have work to do in the run-up to Saturday’s critical showdown at Matthew C. Perry.

Shomari Tindal rushed for three touchdowns and Yokota’s defense picked off four passes in handing the Eagles their fifth loss of the season. Edgren has yet to score a point this season and lost four players to injury, possibly putting the rest of the season in jeopardy again.

“We still have an ongoing issue, sustaining blocks on offense and making tackles on defense,” Pujol said. “That’s the heart of this game. If we went through and played into December, we’d still be needing to work on that.”

To win at Perry on Saturday, the Panthers will “have to win the line of scrimmage and be more efficient on offense” than they’ve been much of the season, Pujol said. Kickoff is at 10 a.m. Saturday at Samurai Field.

As they have much of the season, the Panthers did their damage on all sides of the football.

Tindal rushed for 95 yards on 11 carries. C.J. Thomas added 55 yards and a touchdown on five attempts, T.J. Reney went 4-for-6 for 54 yards and a touchdown, Cameron Joseph caught a TD pass, picked off two passes, had six tackles and 35 return yards and Marquis Smith-Brown returned a pick-six 60 yards.

Dylan Grimes went 7-for-7 on extra-point kicks and intercepted a pass in the end zone to quell Edgren’s best scoring chance late in the first half. All told, Yokota intercepted four Eagles passes.

“We were better than we were last week” in a 35-0 home shutout loss to Nile C. Kinnick, Pujol said.

As for the Eagles, coach Jeremy Sanders said following Friday’s game, he and school administration would once more evaluate where the team stands moving forward. Edgren began the game with 18 players, but lost four to injury.

“Our focus wasn’t as sharp as it was last week” in a home defeat against Matthew C. Perry, Sanders said, “and we paid the price.”

For the moment, the Eagles are planning on playing their next game, a 7 p.m. kickoff Friday against Zama, “unless we’re told otherwise,” Sanders said.

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