P.J. Lorenzo and Edgren could seal the top Division II playoff spot, but they need a win by 16 points or more at Zama on Friday. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)
Zama and Robert D. Edgren began the football regular season the same way they’re ending it: facing each other. Only there’s much more on the line in their second go-round.
The Eagles, with speedy running back P.J. Lorenzo and quarterback Haruki Jones, visit the Trojans, with quarterback Adrian Santiago-Cruz and their pack of receivers, at 6 p.m. Friday.
Zama (4-1) won the opener 17-2 on Aug. 23 at Misawa. And the Trojans can earn the top seed in next weekend’s semifinals with a win.
But if the Eagles (3-1) can beat Zama by 16 points or more, they would win the season series by point differential and earn the D-II top seed under DODEA-Pacific’s criteria.
And a defeat by 16 or more could drop the Trojans to third seed, since they lost to the 3-2 Samurai 21-15 in their lone meeting of the season. Yokota (2-3) is the fourth and final seed regardless of the outcome.
“Things are coming full circle. This puts a lot of pressure on each of us,” said coach Scott Bolin of Zama, the DODEA-Pacific team that most recently won the D-II crown, in 2019.
Each team has three D-II titles to its credit, but the Eagles haven’t won one since 2008 and are coming off three seasons in which they went a combined 3-19.
“We’re ready,” Eagles coach Brian Johnson said. “We’ve been working hard and really getting focused. We’re healthy. We have a highly motivated team ready to take on whatever is thrown at us.”
In effect, though listed as a regular-season game, Friday’s contest has all the trappings of a playoff game, Bolin said.
“It’s definitely 100-percent going to be that kind of environment, with homecoming and all,” he said. “It’s going to be a great game.”
Elsewhere on the football field, Division I’s regular season also wraps up Friday with four of the five teams in action.
Humphreys (2-2) visits American School In Japan (0-4), while D-I-leading Kubasaki (4-0) travels to Nile C. Kinnick (2-2). The Dragons, Kadena Panthers, Red Devils and Blackhawks each have clinched playoff berths; it’s a question of who finishes third and fourth. Kubasaki and Kadena will be the top two seeds.
On the tennis and volleyball courts, only local competition is scheduled in Japan, with E.J. King traveling to Matthew C. Perry and Kinnick volleyball hosting Seisen.
Most other Japan teams are off, with the Far East volleyball, tennis and cross country meets upcoming the next two weeks.
Osan’s boys and girls teams host Seoul Foreign on Saturday, the lone volleyball action for DODEA-Korea teams this weekend.
Sophomore Cassie Jarzabek and Humphreys host Korea’s final regular-season cross country meet on Saturday, the second of two meets Humphreys has hosted this season.
Last Saturday, Jarzabek ran 18 minutes, 36.6 seconds at Cheongna Dalton School in Incheon. It was the Pacific’s fastest girls time this season and the third-fastest on record in the Pacific. Perry’s Jane Williams holds the Pacific record of 18:12.4 set Sept. 20, 2023, at Iwakuni.
“I think of all the hard work I’ve put in to reach this point and tell myself I haven’t gone this far to not go farther,” Jarzabek said in an online interview.
Humphreys sophomore Cassie Jarzabek, who ran a Pacific-best 18:36.6 last week at Incheon, runs her second and final home meet of the season on Saturday. (Humphreys cross country)
