If the right hand don't get you, then the left one will, Tennessee Ernie Ford intoned in the song Sixteen Tons many moons ago. He could very easily have been discussing the Kadena Panthers football backfield, which features four strong hands, including juniors Shariff Coleman, Thomas McDonald and Lotty Smith, which leave the Panthers armed and dangerous for today and the future. Talent and a solid work ethic have led to this lethal combination, coach Sergio Mendoza said. Read their story here.

The Top Ten

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Musings, mutterings and the occasional schmahts as Ornauer prepares for this weekend's run through Misawa, Mustang Valley and Bonk Field, three games in 27 hours:

-- Only once before had I ever seen a football game in which one team had four ballcarriers go over 100 yards (Army when it beat Montana 45-31 in the old Mirage Bowl in 1984 at Tokyo's Olympic Stadium). Kadena came close on Friday, Shariff Coleman 155 yards, 2 touchdowns, 18 carries; Thomas McDonald 137 yards, 2 touchdowns, 11 carries; Stanley Schrock 104 yards, 2 touchdowns, 9 carries; Lotty Smith 98 yards, 1 touchdown, 11 carries.

-- Kadena's 43-0 Homecoming shutout of Kubasaki marked the 11th straight quarter that the Panthers held the Dragons scoreless.

UPDATED at 10 p.m. Saturday.

-- Kadena 43, Kubasaki 0. Panthers nearly had four RBs go over 100 yards, clinch fourth straight Class AA playoff berth.

-- American School In Japan 48, Yokota 8. ASIJ's first win over Yokota since Nov. 7, 1998. Yokota's worst loss in 19 years, ASIJ's biggest-ever win over Yokota, Yokota on two-game Kanto skid after winning league-record 41 straight.

-- Daegu American 13, Seoul American 8. A win next Friday at Seoul gives Daegu its first league title since 1993, when youth activities was running the league.

-- Father Duenas Memorial 33, Simon Sanchez 12. Battle for second place and first-round playoff bye still very much alive.

-- Robert D. Edgren 33, Nile C. Kinnick 15.

The Top Ten

The Top Ten teams in the Stars and Stripes’ 2009 Far East high school football ratings, with records through Oct. 3, points and last week’s rating, as compiled by Dave Ornauer of Stars and Stripes sports. Ratings are based on teams’ win-loss records, quality of wins, strength of roster, schedule and leagues, point differential and team and individual statistics.

SportsBlog Nation:

Just today (so far), I've had to remove 10 comments for foul language and other forms of hate/abuse and have had to outright ban one user. That's three users sent to the sidelines in just the last six weeks.

So everybody will understand: I am not happy.

Pacific SportsBlog is here for one reason: A platform for discussion of Pacific high school and military sports topics of the day. It is not here for keyboard commandos to behave crudely and spread messages of hate.

I expect better than that. I hold SportsBlog to a much higher standard than community Web sites such as CBS Sports (dot) com or Fox Sports (dot) com, which breed hate, which encourage it.

He wasn't even supposed to be here this school year, or even last; his father, Dwyane Harvin, was due to leave his assignment with Yokota Air Base's 374th Medical Group for green pastures elsewhere. But dad extended long enough to ensure his son DeEric would graduate at Yokota. Now that DeEric has his wish, he's pursuing unfinished business -- Far East Class AA titles in football and basketball -- with a sense of urgency. Read his story here.

Rare does a day go by when Kennedy Allen doesn't think about Nov. 6, 2008, when her dream of winning back-to-back girls singles titles in the Far East High School Tennis Tournament was shattered by Kadena's Elissa Mason. Now, Allen, a Seoul American senior, has set about the business of trying to scramble back to the top. She discusses defending a championship, and how much harder that is than to win one, here.