Yokota's Josh Low, stiff-arming Perry defender Aiden Ealey, accounted for 205 yards total offense for the Panthers. (Kevin Rossiter/Special to Stripes)

MARINE CORPS AIR STATION IWAKUNI, Japan – Facing fourth down at Matthew C. Perry’s 10-yard line, with the fourth quarter just beginning, Yokota’s football team was in dire straits.

The Panthers trailed the Samurai 10-0 in the Far East Division II final Friday. They couldn’t get anything going on offense and needed something, anything, to get on the scoreboard and back in the game.

“I’m just going to throw it up to you and if you go up and get it, you get it,” Panthers quarterback Josh Low recalled on what he told receiver Kicoh Guenther in the huddle.

Low tossed it high in the corner where Guenther jumped between a gaggle of Samurai defenders and somehow caught it.

Touchdown.

And from there, it was all Panthers, who scored all their points in the final quarter to rally past Perry 22-10 for Yokota’s first D-II title.

“That turned everything around,” Panthers coach Michael Woodworth said. “He’s in the middle of five defenders, he came down with the ball, we couldn’t believe it and the whole sideline erupted. Then, our defense came alive. And we told (Casey) Bumpers, here you go, just run it.”

The Panthers, the bottom seed in the four-team DODEA-Pacific D-II playoffs, won by upset for the second straight game, though Friday’s matchup was between two teams that had split during the regular season.

“It was a helluva play, a great catch by that guy,” Perry coach Daniel Burns said of Guenther’s reception.

“That kind of hurt. We had a lot of miscues in the fourth quarter, a lot of uncharacteristic mistakes. The momentum shifted and we couldn’t stop the run. Bumpers was the difference. He ran all over us in the fourth quarter.”

Quarterback Josh Low and running back Casey Bumpers had 280 yards on 19 carries between them. (Kevin Rossiter/Special to Stripes)

Yokota's Jay Douglas gets wrapped up by Perry's Travis Walker and Jerry Cordero. (Kevin Rossiter/Special to Stripes)

Preston Ramirez gave Perry a 10-0 advantage with a 35-yard field goal. (Kevin Rossiter/Special to Stripes)

Perry’s Kameron Ramos and Jordan Burford combined for 100 yards on 23 carries. (Taisei Shimakura/Special to Stripes)

Yokota players, cheerleaders and coaches gather 'round the Far East Division II victory banner. (Yokota football)

Jordan Burford put the Samurai on the board in the first quarter with a short run near the goal line. Preston Ramirez added a 35-yard field goal and the Samurai held a 10-0 lead through three quarters.

Then came the Guenther jump ball and a heavy dose of Bumpers rushing.

The senior finished with 135 yards on 13 carries, scoring on runs of 15 and 25 yards. Kaden Elwood added a pair of two-point conversions for the Panthers. Low had 145 yards on six carries and was 7-for-8 passing for 60 yards and also intercepted a pass in the final quarter to stop a Samurai drive.

“We needed two first downs; he (Bumpers) gave us four first downs,” Woodworth said. “He just doesn’t go down. This team just doesn’t have any quit. Just give the ball to Bumpers and that’s what we did.”

Burford finished with 65 yards on 13 carries and Kameron Mason had 35 yards on 10 attempts for the Samurai.

This was Yokota’s third Far East football title; the Panthers won the Division I crowns in 2011 and 2012, then became a D-II school two years later. Yokota lost the 2015 D-II final 51-36 at Daegu.

“We lost a couple of close games (during the season), but we had key injuries,” Woodworth said, adding that when assessing his team’s chances four weeks ago: “I saw us getting into the playoffs, barely.”

Perry was trying for its second D-II title and first since 2016. The Samurai have been in five D-II finals.

“We outplayed them for three quarters and (they scored) 22 unanswered in the fourth,” Burns said. “I’m extremely proud of the boys, going from last place to where we are now. Just 12 minutes short.”