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.
