(Stars and Stripes)

CAMP HUMPHREYS, South Korea – Whether running the ball or throwing it, Carlos Cadet sparkled Saturday for Kubasaki.

And every last one of his yards and points were sorely needed against a Humphreys team that came alive after being shut down a week earlier at Kadena.

Cadet ran for two touchdowns and threw for another, helping the Dragons overcome a solid rushing performance from Joshua Canion and down the Blackhawks 31-23 in a see-saw battle in which the lead changed hands four times.

“Carlos has so much football understanding and he knows how we want to use him and the team on the field,” Dragons coach Tony Alvarado said.

In fact, Alvarado said Cadet and other players on the team noticed things and tendencies in the opposing team that helped Alvarado make play calls.

When the Dragons audibled based on what players saw, “they made the right decisions,” Alvarado said. “The maturity came out in the team that helped us determine what plays we should run.”

With the win, the Dragons improved to 2-0 and has a half-game lead in the Far East Division I playoff chase on Nile C. Kinnick (1-0) and Kadena (2-1). But while Humphreys fell to 0-2, both Alvarado and Blackhawks coach Reggie Meno said the tide may be turning for Humphreys.

“This was not the same Humphreys team as last week,” Alvarado said of a Blackhawks squad that got shut out 30-0 a against the Panthers. “They hit hard, they didn’t stop, their running backs all go hard. I was super impressed.”

Meno, for his part, said he was proud of the Blackhawks’ turnaround.

“This was a lot better performance” than against Kadena, Meno said. “They fought, they fought and they fought. Things still have be tweaked, but they played much better this time around.”

The Dragons got on the board first when Cadet threw 51 yards for a touchdown to Ryan Hater.

Then Canion, who finished with 132 yards on 13 carries, put the Blackhawks in front with TD runs of 35 and 28 yards. The Dragons answered with an 8-yard scoring run by Maurice Brown, making the score 16-12 Humphreys at half.

Cadet gave the Dragons a brief 19-16 lead with a 12-yard third-quarter TD run. Humphreys promptly answered when Bradley Miller uncorked a 50-yard scoring pass to Vaughn Tucker, making it 23-19.

The last lead change came late in the fourth quarter, when Cadet raced around right end and hit the corner of the end zone from 15 yards out. Humphreys then drove inside the red zone, but Miller was forced out of bounds at the Kubasaki 6-yard line, one yard short of a first down, with 30 seconds left.

Kubasaki next hosts American School In Japan (0-2), trying to pad its D-I standings lead; kickoff is at 6 p.m. Saturday. Humphreys is scheduled for a non-divisional game Saturday at Osan, then hosts ASIJ on Sept. 27 for homecoming.

“I think we put ourselves out there now,” Meno said. “We’re ready. We’re coming.”