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.

Even a stateside team will visit Okinawa in mid-September -- Utah South Valley plays at Kadena on Sept. 9 and at Kubasaki on Sept. 13.

"We have a varsity program. We need a varsity season," Kubasaki coach and athletics director Fred Bales said as far back as last spring. "I'm excited about the change," he said in August.

He has every reason to be.