Joshua Canion led Humphreys on the ground with 252 yards and a pair of long touchdown runs on 18 carries. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)

CAMP HUMPHREYS, South Korea – Bradley Miller’s arm and Joshua Canion legs have lifted Humphreys into the DODEA-Pacific Division I football playoff hunt.

Miller tossed two first-half touchdown passes and Canion rushed for 252 yards and a pair of lengthy TD runs, boosting the Blackhawks past pesky American School In Japan 35-23 Friday at Blackhawks Field.

“We stayed resilient,” Humphreys coach Reggie Meno said after his charges held off a second-half rally by the Mustangs.

“We’ve preached to the boys time and again, to be resilient, to get back up when they get down. And they did,” Meno said.

It was the Blackhawks’ first win in three tries, putting them in fourth place in the five-team D-I playoff chase. ASIJ fell to 0-4 in D-I and will need to beat Humphreys by more than 12 points in their Oct. 11 rematch at Mustang Valley.

“There were a lot of positives” for the Mustangs, ASIJ coach Ron Schnell said. “But we kept shooting ourselves in the foot in the red zone. And they broke two big (TD runs) on us.”

Friday’s game was an offensive shootout, with the teams combining for 774 yards on 113 plays. But it was the Blackhawks, with Canion and his backfield mate Matthew Nubin making the difference on the ground and Miller in the air.

“That’s my 1-2 punch,” Meno said of Nubin and Canion, who stepped into the shoes of last year’s top running backs Luke Robinson and Koah Meno. “They’re disciplined, they’re tenacious and of course they run hard.”

Nubin added 69 yards and a touchdown run on 13 carries for the Blackhawks, who gained 338 yards on 37 rushing attempts.

Miller was 6-for-12 for 96 yards, including scoring passes of 22 yards to Von Tucker and 10 to Joshua Sagahun. Reid Kenney added a 25-yard field goal with 9:38 left in the first half to give the Blackhawks the lead for good 10-7.

ASIJ got strong production from its offense, with quarterback Isreal Rodriguez scoring twice on short TD runs and going 14-for-32 for 203 yards, including a 14-yard second-half touchdown pass to Shou Murakami-Moses. He had seven catches for 123 yards.

Micah Eickbush ran 19 times for 115 yards, caught four passes for 66 yards and added three returns for 51 yards, giving him 228 all-purpose yards.

There was only one turnover in the contest and that came late, with Humphreys’ Dallas Hunter picking off a last-ditch Rodriguez pass with 11 seconds left.

Humphreys next hosts Nile C. Kinnick at 6 p.m. Saturday, while ASIJ gets a week off before hosting the Blackhawks in what amounts to a winner-take-all game for fourth place in the D-I playoff chase.

“Very simple. In two weeks, we have to win by two scores,” Schnell said.

Humphreys' Von Tucker awaits a 22-yard touchdown pass as ASIJ's Jack Draper reaches up in vain to bat it down. (Gracie Farneman/Special to Stripes)

ASIJ's Shou Murakami-Moses tries to elude Humphreys' D.Q. Williams (Gracie Farneman/Special to Stripes)

Humphreys' Matthew Nubin catches a pass in front of ASIJ's Sebastian Weede. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)

ASIJ's Isreal Rodriguez gets rid of the ball in front of Humphreys' Killian Carmody. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)

ASIJ's Micah Eickbush, who had 228 all-purpose yards, tries to outrun Humphreys' Joshua Sahagun. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)