Come Friday, expect a new twist to Okinawa Activities Council high school football.

No more split-squad games to prepare for a best-of-three championship series to determine the OAC's representative in the Far East Class AA playoffs.

Instead, Kadena and Kubasaki will play full-fledged varsity schedules. The best-of-three expands to a best-of-five, with Kubasaki hosting Yokota of Japan and traveling to Daegu American of South Korea and Kadena negotiating with Robert D. Edgren and American School In Japan for interarea contests.

Back to the diamond for a minute. The granddaddy of all Pacific interservice Grand Slam softball tournaments, the Typhoon Classic at Okinawa's Torii Station, was canceled when only one -- that's right, one -- team turned in its paperwork and paid its entry fee before the deadline.

Call it a case of bad timing, said new Torii Station fitness and sports director Joe Kumzak. His predecessor, Jim Perry, just transferred to Hawaii and Kumzak is still in-processing after moving from Camp Zama's Yano Fitness Center to Torii.

That leaves only the Kanto Kup as the Pacificwide Labor Day weekend tournament of record ... and as I type this, it is currently being drenched by more of the relentless showers that have assaulted the Kanto Plain since Aug. 21.

How unfortunate that Saturday's Torii Bowl, Yokosuka at Misawa for the U.S. Forces Japan-American Football League title, was postponed due to transportation problems.

Yokosuka's flight from Naval Air Facility Atsugi got diverted due to a schedule change, the Seahawks couldn't secure ground transportation and had no other way of getting to Misawa Air Base this weekend.

Now, follows the question: When can the game be rescheduled?

Misawa said as long ago as the preseason coaches' meeting, they would not be available to play after Aug. 30 due to the base's annual Air Show on Sept. 6-7, followed by military commitments that would reduce the team's roster by half.

Running back/cornerback/kick returner Johnell Alexander is quickly making people forget Robert D. Edgren's "Fantastic Four" of last year. The senior ran 23 times for 150 yards and three touchdowns and returned a kick 80 yards for a score as the Eagles won 32-13 Friday at Zama American.

As for Yokota's 35-0, lightning-shortened win at Nile C. Kinnick, take your pick of successors to Anthony McNeill. Sophomore Derick "Rookie" Seward with his 153 yards, including an 81-yard touchdown scamper? Or Junior Andy Silva, with his two blocked punts and a touchdown catch?

The Panthers and Eagles trade opponents and play their home openers next Friday, Zama at Yokota and Kinnick at Edgren.

Gad,  did summer roll by too quickly or what?

Anyway, same stuff, different year. Time for ORNY to put his best pigskin prognosticator's pod forward and try to discern who'll do what on the gridiron. Without the use of Ouija boards, tea leaves and crystal balls, here it comes again:

Japan
Friday

It wasn't easy, but the Yokosuka Seahawks punched their ticket for a berth in Saturday's U.S. Forces Japan-American Football League Torii Bowl at Misawa.

Special teams and defense did the trick. Two blocked punts set up touchdown runs by Lorenz Piper, while the Seahawks forced five Yokota turnovers and Delrick "Tractor" Traylor recorded 2 1/2 sacks as Yokosuka downed the Warriors 14-6 in Saturday's semifinal at Yokosuka's Berkey-by-the-Bay.

Kinda poetic, really, that the MVP of the 2008 Marine Corps Far East Regional Men's Softball Tournament was in his first year of varsity ball.

Daniel Alvarez is one of seven Pacific-based Leathernecks headed to All-Marine softball tryout camps for men and women, scheduled for Aug. 25-Sept. 14 at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, N.C.

Alvarez, 26, a lance corporal from Seattle, helped lead 1st Marine Aircraft Wing to four victories in four games on Thursday, including 16-4 and 10-2 double-elimination championship triumphs over 3rd Marine Division/III Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Foster's Field 1.

Make that 23 soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines headed to their respective services' softball tryout camps.

The latest: From Camp Foster on Okinawa, Renee Langlois and Lauren LeMay. And from Camp Humphreys in South Korea, Yudelka Lorange, Amber Knickman and Sasamamao Siatuu.

Six more to be selected, from this week's Marine Corps Far East Regional for men at Camp Foster's Field 1. I'll be there, D-200 in hand.

With Saturday's 26-18 home win over two-time defending champion Yokosuka at Hillside Stadium, the Misawa Jets have a chance to do what no Jets team has done since the 1986 season.

Four quarterbacks took turns tossing the pigskin, with Darone Frierson catching two touchdown passes. Frierson, Darvin Johnson, Andre Rice and Ralph Elliott combined to go 8-for-22 for 151 yards and Prentice Coleman returned an interception 45 yards for a score.

Once again, the Pacific should be well represented later this month in tryout camps designed to select All-Service teams competing in next month's All-Armed Forces softball tournaments at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla.

The latest to get the nod is Kevin Petty, a Navy petty officer second class assigned to Fleet Activities Okinawa security. The first baseman for Club Red and American Legion, which play on Okinawa's open tournament circuit, will attend the All-Navy camp Aug. 22-Sept. 12 at Pensacola.