good football too

Three terrific Division II collegiate games on a beautiful football Saturday at Konmazawa Park, with it's 5 yard end zones and all.

While Division I games in September are generally lopsided affairs, this year there seems to be a lot more parity in Division II. (In week 1 in B block, the bottom four teams in the division defeated the top four).

In the morning game, the Toyo Vikings and the Musashino Pheasants from block A fought to a 17-all tie. Toyo scored first on a field goal, and a late drive brought them inside the 10 to give them a shot at a short field goal, but it was blocked to end the game (there is no overtime in Division II regular season games). Both teams featured impressive passing attacks.

After a two hour wait for the kickoff of the second game (to avoid the mid-day heat) the Gakushuin Generals and Aoyama Lightning got off to a slow start, but showed lots of offense throughout the day, as #21 for both sides ran (and in some places kicked), and showing great speed and determination for their respective teams. The Generals scored first on a field goal, and Aoyama came back tith a drive of their own to take a 7-3 lead. After falling behind on another General's drive, Aoyama scored late in the half on a beautiful fade to Anzaki who beat the CB and S for a TD with less than a minute to go. But Gakushuin Marched down and scored on the final play of the half to reclaim a 3 point lead.


Aoyama scored on a FG to tie it 17-all early in the 3rd period, and went ahead ona 1 yard run by Kimura early in the 4th period. Gakushuin returned the kickoff for a TD to tie it up again. From there, turnovers did in Aoyama, as a fumbed point gave Gakushuin a short field, and a couple of TD receptions by #87 late made the final 38-24. The Generals are now 2-0, and Aoyama falls to 0-2.

In the evening contest, the Yokohama Mastiffs fell behind to the Takushoku Rattle Snakes after scoring early, then finally scoring a TD again with two minutes left. The Rattle Snakes drove to near the Aoyama goal line, but after spiking on 1st and 3rd down, their FG attempt on 4th down was blocked, allowing the Mastiffs to escape with a 13-10 victory.

Football Weekend

Well, if you like American Football in all of its various and glorious forms, head out on Saturday to Amino Vital field (Tobitakyu/Ajinomoto Stadium station on the Keio Line). There on one stage (of field turf) you will find flag, touch, and tackle football. The "Flag Festival" kicks off at 10:30, followed by Touch Football at 14:30. A college division I game caps it off with Nippon Daigaku taking on Kanagawa beginning at 17:15.


There will also be X2 games played at Oi Stadium #2, in the stadium near the horse track, and a pair of X3 games at Kawasaki.

Sunday will feature various games:
KCFA I-A games at Kawasaki; X2 games at Amino Vital. JPFF will also have several games taking place in both the Kanto and Kansai regions- check their website.

(see LINKS section)

are you ready for some football?

X-League action continues throughout the week, with most of the games held at the Big Egg (Tokyo Dome). Several have been critical of the league for the expense of renting the Tokyo Dome- said to be several million yen, but with the hot weather and then the taiphoon that hit Japan mid-week, the air-conditioned dome has proved to be a welcome shelter from the elements.

Due to the semi-professional nature of the league, several teams have been hampered by work conflicts preventing various members to appear.

But the lone upset this week so far has been the Bulls-eyes mild upset of Fuji Xerox by a score appropriate to the facility of the baseball facility: 7-3.

KCFA Division II notes

One curious occurrence this weekend: in the B block of Division II, the four bottom teams in the division defeated the four top ranked teams. Cannot ever remember that happening.

Who knows if the weather had anything to do with it: on the new field at Tokyo Institute of Technology on Saturday, it was 42 degrees (107 F) by the time of the kickoff of the second game.

As is the case in most divisions in Japan, games are scheduled approximately two week(ends) apart.

Football!

Apologies for months of neglect.
New host for the a-football website.

Have various scraps of notes to upload here. Bear with us,


Anyway, glad the season is finally here again. To football season, truly nothing quite compares....