Guam routs JFK to open island football play
UPPER TUMON, Guam – Entering the season, the big worry for Guam High coach Jacob Dowdell was who would replace transferred quarterback Sean Sweet and receiver Matt Eaton.
L.J. Aguon and Marcus Domingo each answered those doubts resoundingly Saturday as the Panthers walloped John F. Kennedy 40-0 at JFK’s Ramsey Field in their Guam Interscholastic Football League season opener.
Aguon went an economical 17-for-21 for 205 yards and four touchdowns, two of them to Domingo, while Tegan Brown made 10 tackles as the Panthers defense held the Islanders to just 32 offensive yards.
“L.J. did just as we thought he would,” Dowdell said. “He was very sharp, very crisp. That was one of the best pure passing performances we’ve had here.”
It wasn’t a perfect performance, particularly in the first half, when the Islanders defense pretty much held the Panthers’ passing game in check. Dowdell credited his staff of assistant coaches, mostly from the military community, to correct the Panthers’ blocking schemes.
“Our assistant coaches did a great job making some adjustments,” Dowdell said. “We would have been well behind the power curve if we didn’t have them working with us.”
Domingo caught nine passes for 105 yards and two touchdowns. “He took over as our ‘go-to’ guy from Matt Eaton,” Dowdell said.
Damian Dimmick added an 8-yard touchdown run and also posted five tackles on defense. Terry Geller rushed 7 yards for a score, while defensive back Juwan Jacobs, who ran back an interception 47 yards for a touchdown, “stepped out of the shadow,” Dowdell said, of his brother Devon, a former Panthers two-way star.
Many a Panther stepped up and played both offense and defense, Dowdell said. Brandon Saville, a team captain, ran six times for 45 yards at fullback and had eight tackles at linebacker. Chance Horvath, a tight end and lineman, recorded six tackles and Cody Burpo had seven.
“Definitely the sort of start I wanted,” Dowdell said.
The Panthers next play Simon Sanchez, a 6-0 winner over Father Duenas Memorial, on Saturday at Okkodo High School at 7 p.m.
