Humphreys’ Brian Taylor tries to bull his way between Kubasaki’s Mateo Solano and Kalen Sablan. (Julia Mendoza/Special to Stripes)
CAMP HANSEN, Okinawa – Okinawa continues to be good to Humphreys, which remains very much alive in the chase for Far East Division I title-game space.
Dallas Hunter scored twice and Broderick Carmody added a short touchdown run as the Blackhawks broke the game open in the second half, beating Kubasaki 19-6 in DODEA-Pacific’s first high school football game played at Hansen.
Humphreys improved to 2-1, both victories coming on Okinawa, and vaulted into second place in the D-I standings. The Dragons, the 2024 D-I champions and last year’s runner-up, fell to 1-3 and all but out of the championship chase.
“We were a little off balance in the first half, a lot of little mistakes which plagued us,” Humphreys coach Tyrone Powers said. Humphreys fumbled away what could have been a first-quarter touchdown, and had a field goal and two extra-point kicks blocked.
“We had a lot of penalties that killed drives, holding, false starts, a lot of 50-50 calls,” Powers said. “But we stopped the penalties, bad snaps, minimized the mistakes and turned the tide.”
Hunter put the Blackhawks ahead with a 3-yard first-quarter touchdown run. Kubasaki replied with a Keyonte Lopez 6-yard scoring burst that tied the game just before halftime.
The fourth quarter belonged to the Blackhawks. Hunter put them ahead to stay with a 5-yard scoring run. Carmody added some insurance with a 3-yard TD in the closing minutes.
Humphreys’ Dallas Hunter looks for yardage against Kubasaki. (Julia Mendoza/Special to Stripes)
Kubasaki’s Maurice Brown gets set to punt against Humphreys. (Julia Mendoza/Special to Stripes)
Keyonte Lopez scored the only Kubasaki touchdown against Humphreys. (Heather Mendoza/Special to Stripes)
“We’re still making too many mistakes (with) solid basic football, blocking and tackling and we’re just not doing that,” Dragons coach Tony Alvarado said. “Humphreys was solid in their run game, they kept things simple and they executed well.”
Early on, the game looked like several of the tight contests that Humphreys and Kubasaki have played the past couple of seasons, Powers said.
“They’re a tough team,” Powers said of the Dragons. “Because of the rivalry, they came to play, they were aggressive, they had a good gameplan. With these teams, it can go either way.”
The Blackhawks have next week off, then head to Yokosuka Naval Base where they face D-I-leading Nile C. Kinnick at 6 p.m. Oct. 3. The winner stands a good chance of hosting the D-I final on Oct. 24.
Kubasaki travels to American School In Japan at 6 p.m. next Friday, a must-win game for both teams to have an outside shot at playing for the title.
AloJapan.com