By Dave Ornauer
Published: September 13, 2012
The Top Ten
The Top Ten teams in the Stars and Stripes' weekly Far East high school football ratings, with records through Sept. 8, points and last season’s final rating, as compiled by Dave Ornauer of Stars and Stripes sports. Ratings are based on teams' win-loss records, quality of wins, strength of roster, schedule and leagues, point differential and team and individual statistics. Maximum rating is 500 points:
Record Pts Pvs
1. Yokota, Japan 3-0 436 1
2. Kadena, Okinawa 2-0 428 5
3. Kubasaki, Okinawa 2-0 424 4
4, Guam High 3-0 420 7
5. American School In Japan 0-1 412 2
6. George Washington, Guam 1-1 404 3
7. Simon Sanchez, Guam 2-1 396 8
8, Nile C. Kinnick, Japan 2-1 388 –
9. Robert D. Edgren, Japan 1-2 380 –
10. Zama American, Japan 1-2 372 10
By Dave Ornauer
Published: September 11, 2012
It’s that rare DODDS athlete who makes it onto an NCAA Division I football team, but that’s what two of our Kadena graduates, Aaron Ahner (class of 2011) and Gabe Ahner (class of 2012) have done – they’re part of the University of Louisville’s football team, which plays in the Big East, a Bowl Championship Series conference.
UL officials confirmed the Ahners’ addition to the team as walk-ons in an e-mail to Stripes received Tuesday. Aaron and Gabe are working with the Cardinals’ scout defensive team, which helps prepare the offense for their upcoming opponents. They were added to the team on Aug. 20, and according to the coaching staff, “both Gabe and Aaron are working hard and doing their best to help the team,” associate sports information director Rocco Gasparro said in an e-mail.
By Dave Ornauer
Published: September 10, 2012
-- One Burke leaves, another one steps up and takes her place. Natalie Burke of Zama American began the DODDS Japan tennis season with three wins in as many singles matches. Twice against E.J. King, she didn’t drop a single game. Zama unbeaten after one week. Older sister Tia, last year's Kanto champion and Far East runner-up would be proud.
-- Who is Jarrell Hilber and where did he come from? Zama may have found a itself a rising cross-country star, who placed second in the first boys Kanto Plain Association of Secondary Schools heat Saturday at Tama Hills Recreation Center.
-- That said, Nile C. Kinnick’s Robert Beard and Carydaliz Fontanez might prove to be tough to beat on the DODDS Japan circuit.
-- Samantha (cross country) and Amelia (volleyball) Arnold. They could form a solid 1-2 family punch for Yokota, which won three volleyball matches at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, while Amelia’s freshman sister led a 1-3-4 finish by Yokotans in the girls first heat at Tama.
-- Ryan Parker, Sally Lee and Seoul American’s runners look like they still have some fight left in them after the departure of the Henderson sisters.
-- Looks like nobody’s going to catch Jeffrey and Jae-hyun Kim and Seoul Foreign tennis … again. Sure wish they’d get an invitation to Far East.
-- Yokota’s tennis girls lineup of Emily Beemsterboer, Anju Yamanaka and Ashley Hirata: As good as advertised.
-- I just love how Matthew C. Perry tennis coach Mark Lange continues to pluck soccer players off the pitch, put rackets in their hands and ask them to disguise themselves as tennis players. Something about the issue of trust; they play for Lange on both court and pitch.
-- Yokota in five sets over Perry in volleyball. Could be a preview of the DODDS Japan final.
-- Seoul American over Daegu High in five sets in volleyball. Could be a preview of the Korean-American Interscholastic Activities Conference Girls Division I tournament final.
-- Erik Armes may still rule the Okinawa district cross-country courses. But look which school placed four runners in the top 10 of last Wednesday’s season opener at Jack’s Place! Okinawa Christian International could be this year’s Zion Christian Academy. That Ryan Bugler can run just a little.
-- The girls field may be a slugfest. Kadena’s Ana Hernandez and Rachel Burchill and Kubasaki’s Allie Reichenberg and Jessica Freedman within 17 seconds of each other.
-- We knew Alison Bowman could run the distance races in Guam track and field. But the Guam High sophomore is proving just as competitive in 3.1’s.
By Dave Ornauer
Published: September 9, 2012
Musings, mutterings and the occasional schmahts as Ornauer agrees, more can be accomplished by looking within, instead of by lashing out:
It’s said that tournament organizers, sports media, coaches and referees do jobs in which they please 46 percent of the people 50 percent of the time (I’ve come to acknowledge that the former number exists because there is no pleasing the other 4 percent, no matter how hard they try).
By Dave Ornauer
Published: September 7, 2012
Even with international schools back in the fold since 2010 after a six-year absence with their litany of year-round players, DODDS Pacific players have continued to hold a veritable monolith over the Far East High School Tennis Tournament, and that conga line of champions shows no sign of abating. The question being, will Chloe Gadsden continue her family's monolith on the singles title, or will another DODDS quantity step up and claim the throne? Click here to read all about the Pacific's top teams and stars, significant dates and team capsules.
By Dave Ornauer
Published: September 7, 2012
So, the replacement pipeline that brought former three-time Far East Division II girls volleyball tournament champion Daegu High such luminaries as Kristina Bergman, Maleah Potts Cash, Lynnette Grant and Kadijah Parker has shut itself off? Coach Joanna Wyche says she hope she can get players not so tall to think and play tall in the middle. Meanwhile, last year's Division I Tournament runner-up Kinnick is hoping to get a boost from the last three Guam women's national team coaches. Click here for the Pacific girls volleyball season preview, significant dates and team capsules.
By Dave Ornauer
Published: September 7, 2012
The season gets into full gear this weekend. So, who are the teams to beat? Will Kubasaki, which got great good luck in the transfer rounds, and Robert D. Edgren repeat their Far East Divisions I and II title glory? Or might a perennial power like Kadena step up and reclaim what's been theirs four times since 2004? Click here to read all about the upcoming season, the stars and teams to watch for.
By Dave Ornauer
Published: September 7, 2012
Week 2 grid honors
Robert D. Edgren – Louis Murphy 67 yards, TD, 7 carries; 53 yards, 5 catches; 17 tackles, forced fumble, fumble recovery. Tristan Jefferson 11-for-28, 173 yards, 2 touchdowns.
Nile C. Kinnick – Quinton Holden 132 yards, TD, 14 carries; 89-yard kick-return touchdown; interception. Dustin Wilson 2 rushing touchdowns, 2-point conversion, 3 extra-point kicks. Marcus Boatwright 11 tackles, fumble recovery. Dakota Rogers 9 tackles, sack.
Yokota – Raymond Butler 143 yards, touchdown, 7 carries. Morgan Breazell 105 yards, touchdown, 6 carries; 9-yard kick return. Stanley Speed 2 rushing touchdowns, fumble recovery, interception; 25-yard kick return. Ke’Ondre Davis 4 sacks.
Kadena – Justin Sego 79 yards, 2 touchdowns, 13 carries; interception. Joey Dyer 125 yards, 2 touchdowns, 3 catches; 8 yards, 2 carries; 7-yard kick return. Maverick Giron 2-for-3, 111 yards, touchdown. David Padilla 2 interceptions.
Daegu High – Steven Robinet 7-for-12, 88 yards, touchdown.
Kubasaki – Jarrett Mitchell 232 yards, 2 touchdowns, 13 carries. Tyler Smith 5-for-11, 41 yards, 3 touchdowns. Chris Schehl 2 sacks.
Guam High – L.J. Aguon 8-for-15, 134 yards, touchdown; 25 yards, 7 carries. Damian Dimmick 10 tackles; 62 yards, 7 carries. Brandon Saville 11 tackles. Tegan Brown 11 tackles. Cabe Robit 10 tackles. Juwan Jacobs interception, pass breakup to halt Simon Sanchez drives.
By Dave Ornauer
Published: September 2, 2012
Musings, mutterings and the occasional schmahts as Ornauer takes stock, report-card style, of the Pacific’s high school football teams two weeks into the season:
-- Yokota (2-0): Two words: Line surge. One observer at Friday’s Zama American at Yokota game said, “That line is pushing people back five yards.” Zama coach Steven Merrell said, “Like a blue wave marching forward. Amazing.” Yep, they’re all back, Victor Madaris, Jesse Hogan, Max Lester, Dylan Kessler and Jake Jackson, plowing the road for the likes of Morgan Breazell (289 yards, four touchdowns, 23 carries), Raymond Butler (281 yards, three touchdowns, 15 carries) and Stanley Speed (121 yards, three touchdowns, 8 carries). At that corner-free safety spot, Speed also has an appetite for turnovers, recording two in Friday’s game. But that slender sophomore defensive end, Ke’Ondre Davis. Oh, Ke’Ondre Davis! Note to opposing coaches: Double-team that guy or your quarterback is going to be eating … um … field turf, in most cases in Japan. Now, can the Panthers finally accomplished what they failed to the last three years, win at American School In Japan’s Mustang Valley? Grade: A+
