Musings, mutterings and the occasional schmahts as Ornauer wonders if we're staring at Kadena-Seoul Class AA football title-game Classic No. 3:

-- I say again, that's why they play the games on the field, not in the newspapers or the blogs. I mean, who saw Seoul American 15, Guam High 0 coming?

-- Didn't think so.

-- I mean, a team 7-2 team entering Tuesday's Class AA semifinal that averaged 24 points per game held to 132 yards and gets no further than its foes' 18-yard line? Gets into Seoul territory four times, turns it over on downs three times and tosses an interception?

-- And Seoul American, which suffered its school-first losing regular season, got outscored 56-99 in six games and lost the season series to Class A runner-up Daegu American for the first time?

-- It was clear at Mike Petty on Tuesday that the Falcons totally drank the Kool-Aid (and Gatorade, water and anything else that would keep them from cramping), bought into the idea that the Class AA playoffs are a whole new season and played like it. Especially on defense.

-- At the very least, it was a solid coming-out party for guys like Han Yoo, Jamal James and Brandon Morton. And they're young, which means we could see a return to DODEA Korea League glory for the Falcons as soon as next season.

-- So, now we await Saturday's Round 3 between old nemeses Kadena and Seoul American. The two have met twice in Class AA title play, with the Falcons winning both. Will the story be different with the game on Okinawa this time? Kadena beat Seoul 27-10 in the 2007 Class AA semifinals. If that's an indication, etc.

-- That Guam High rushing star Jason Brunson injured an ankle on the first play didn't help the Panthers any. You could easily see he was tentative after that, tip-toeing and stutter-stepping instead of bulling ahead. That forced the Panthers to go primarily to the air. Hope Brunson, one of the Panthers' "Three Caballeros," is OK for Saturday's bronze-medal game with Yokota.

-- Is it just me, or have the crowds at Mike Petty for Monday's and Tuesday's semifinals been S-P-A-R-S-E? Mostly opposing coaches and players. I mean, c'mon! The Class A title game drew hundreds. From all up and down the Korean peninsula (well, at least until the intersection of 38th and Parallel). Sure hope Saturday's turnout is more to a title-game's liking.

-- Speaking of Seoul men, understandably worried was Falcons cross-country coach Steve Boyd about what kind of boys' team he'd be bringing to the Far East meet, what with Anthony Catineau and Andrew Murphy down with the flu and missing the Korean-American Interscholastic Activities Conference meet.

-- But healthy they were for Far East this week, and Catineau especially proved a difference maker as the Falcons put four teams in the top 10 of the team relay standings and captured their second straight overall team title in the Far East meet at Gosser Memorial Golf Course, Misawa Air Base, Japan.

-- Why didn't boys 3.1-mile champion Thomas Kim and girls 3.1-mile champion Siarria Ingram run as a pair? Holmes might say, "Elementary, my dear Watson." Boyd chose to go the depth route rather than put his eggs in too few baskets. His goal was to get as many pairs into the top 10 as he could, and if one of them could win the relay gold, so much the better. But the former was priority. And it worked to perfection.

-- Two straight Far East titles for Boyd, who formerly taught and coached at Misawa's Robert D. Edgren High School. Guess you can come home again. :)

-- Chasity Cordova of Kadena may have come away empty in the girls' 3.1-mile individual race, finishing second, second and third the last three years,, but she set a bit of Pacific history with her third straight team relay gold medal ... with a different guy each year, Brant Casteel in 2007, Patrick Edwards in 2008 and Jacob Bishop on Tuesday.

-- And another tip of the cap to Osan American, which swept all three team events in the Class A competition and made David Hemmer a two-time Far East Class A champion coach; he and the Cougars wrestling team won those honors last February. Nicole Solomonson and Josh Hanks placed second in the team relay, the best finish ever by a Class A pair.

-- Does Ma Nature have a grudge against the Far East Tennis Tournament? Four of the last six playing days the last two years, rain has visited the event, and on Tuesday made its presence known resoundingly with two lengthy rain delays. Using the Thursday rain delay for a second straight year is now a distinct possibility.

-- Predictable the singles brackets have become; all four of the top seeds in each of the girls and boys brackets made Wednesday's semifinals.

-- Falcons visited once again, this time on the Class AA volleyball courts, where Seoul American, which was supposed to be "all that" next year when Liz Gleaves and Destinee' Harrison are seniors, downed pre-tournament favorite and senior-laden Nile C. Kinnick in straight sets at Guam's Andersen Air Force Base. Could it be that the Falcons and Red Devils might meet at Center Court on Saturday?

-- Daegu American certainly righted its ship on Tuesday after losing Monday to Morrison Christian Academy, sweeping its pool-play matches and earning the second seed in the Class A volleyball tournament double-elimination playoffs. One of the Warriors' victories Tuesday -- a come-from behind triumph over perennial contender International School of the Sacred Heart.

Two days down. Four to go. 104 days (actually 103, since this is being posted past midnight).