(Stars and Stripes)

CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa – After being bottled up by Nile C. Kinnick’s defense a week earlier on the road, Carlos Cadet provided plenty of yardage and scoring fuel for a Kubasaki team that’s headed to the Far East Division I football final.

The senior quarterback rushed for three touchdowns and threw for another and Haustyn Lunsford dashed 5 yards for a fifth score as the Dragons blanked Nile C. Kinnick for a second straight week 33-0 Friday at Kubasaki’s Mike Petty Stadium.

Kubasaki (6-0) will next host the D-I final next Friday against the winner of Saturday’s semifinal pitting Humphreys (2-3) at Kadena (3-2).

But unlike the Dragons’ 34-0 shutout of the Red Devils at Yokosuka Naval Base the week before, Kubasaki struggled to get out of the gate, coach Tony Alvarado said.

“They were moving the ball, we were plagued by mistakes; I told the guys, you can’t make simple mistakes like that in the playoffs,” Alvarado said. “The second quarter, we calmed down.”

With the Kinnick defense keeping eyes on seniors Lukas Gaines and Haustyn Lunsford, who scored the lion’s share of Kubasaki points last week, Alvarado turned Cadet loose.

“Now that they were keying on Lukas and Haustyn, we just opened things up to Carlos,” he said. “We found the next opportunity to strike and Carlos took advantage of it.”

Cadet scored from 15 yards out on the first play of the second quarter, added a 70-yard TD run with 7:15 left in the first half, then rushed in from 4 yards out late in the half.

Lunsford scored his touchdown at the end of the third quarter, then Cadet tossed a 27-yard TD strike to Lunsford in the fourth period.

Cadet had 125 yards on 11 carries, Lunsford added 124 yards on 10 tries and Gaines rushed seven times for 81 yards. Cadet was 6-for-6 for 56 yards passing.

“They have three great options out of the backfield,” Kinnick coach Dan Joley said of Gaines, Cadet and Lunsford. “It’s fun to see them play.”

Though the Red Devils (2-4) ended the season with back-to-back shutouts, Joley said he feels the future is bright, based on the defensive performance in the first period and the play of two freshmen, Donovan San Nicolas and Emanual Zarraga.

“That excites me about the young guys for next year,” Joley said.

The D-I final has been moved to Friday because of a scheduled power outage affecting Camp Foster on Oct. 26.