Kadena's Jeremiah Drummer tries to elude Nile C. Kinnick's Braden Askins. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)
KADENA AIR BASE, Okinawa – While Kadena got its usual production from its star of the present, the Panthers also got a glimpse of the future Friday.
Senior running back Jeremiah Drummer scored twice, but freshman Ethan Ferch showed he may be a future force, gaining 40 yards on just two carries, including a 29-yard touchdown, as the Panthers downed Nile C. Kinnick 42-8 on homecoming.
With the win, the Panthers (5-1) clinched the host berth in the DODEA-Pacific Far East Division I football title game Oct. 28. The Red Devils finished their D-I season 2-4 with one non-divisional game left.
“Ethan has been a really solid JV player,” Panthers coach Sergio Mendoza said. “We’ve been waiting for the right time to bring him up. He has ability. And he’s learning from a great mentor in Jeremiah.”
The game started out tight. Drummer rushed 10 yards for a score on Kadena’s first possession, but the Red Devils answered with an 80-yard, nine-play drive over 4 minutes, 26 seconds, capped by Tre Bennett’s 2-yard TD run.
From there, the Panthers scored 36 unanswered points, but were unable to pull away until midway through the fourth quarter.
The Red Devils cut a 21-6 deficit by two points when Kadena snapped the ball out of the end zone while trying to punt. Kadena’s ensuing free kick was covered by Kinnick’s Xavier Wright at the 5-yard line.
But Kinnick quarterback Kellen Broach couldn’t get the handle on the ensuing snap, and Kadena’s Tre Shears fell on the ball in the end zone for the first of three Panthers touchdowns in a span of 4:26.
Nile C. Kinnick's Kellen Broach tries to unload as Kadena's Tre Shears draws a bead on him and Red Devils teammate Bobby Crisafulli tries to block Shears. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)
Kadena's Jeremiah Drummer fights his way through traffic in search of rushing daylight. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)
Nile C. Kinnick's Devin Jackson tries to elude Kadena's Austin Lutz. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)
Kadena quarterback DeShaun Nixon threw for a touchdown and rushed for another. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)
Nile C. Kinnick's Tre Bennett tries to elude Kadena defender Kai Christy. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)
Kadena's Jeremiah Drummer gets bottled up by Nile C. Kinnick defenders. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)
Despite the one-sided nature of the score, both Mendoza and Kinnick coach Dan Joley said the game was much closer than the score indicated.
“Kinnick played us tough,” Mendoza said. “We’ll take the W, but it wasn’t a good four quarters of football, which we have yet to do.”
Drummer finished with 126 yards on 19 carries, including TD runs of 10 and 51 yards. Quarterback DeShaun Nixon was 5-for-11 for 138 yards, including a 77-yard scoring pass to Kai Christy. Nixon also rushed 1 yard for a TD. Shears recovered two fumbles for Kadena.
The Red Devils turned the ball over five times and “they’re (Kadena) a disciplined football team that took advantage of what we gave them,” Joley said.
“We had a great defensive scheme coming into the game. The score doesn’t reflect it,” Joley said. “But we gave them the ball deep in our territory and they capitalized on every one of them.”
Bennett, the Red Devils’ workhorse, rushed 30 times for 127 yards. Broach was 5-for-22 for 54 yards, completing four of his passes to Devin Jackson for 49 yards. Bryce Gates had one of two Red Devils fumble recoveries and one of two sacks.
Kinnick finishes the season next Friday at Yokota in an interdivisional game.
