2011 Japan X-Bowl

2011-12-19 Japan X-Bowl


Three quick, deadly strikes by Noriaki Kinosita in five plays struck mortal blows to the championship hopes of the Fujitsu Frontiers, and were the difference in another nerve-wracking tight X-Bowl battle between the Obic Segulls and the the Frontiers. Despite being out-performed and out-gained most of the night, the Seagulls prevailed 24-17.

Fujitsu seemed in command for most of the ball game, leading at halftime 7-3, and when a 31-yard Fujitsu FG put them up 10-3 with 5 minutes left in the 3rd quarter, it looked like that might be all they need.

But Kinoshita took the kickoff, split the coverage and went 98 yards for a touchdown. The extra point attempt missed to the left. Yusuke Kaneoya had also missed his first FG attempt,, before hitting a 21 yarder on their next and last possession of the first half.

After Kinoshita's electrifying return the Obic fans regained their excitement. The two teams traded 3-and-outs. Then Obic struck deep several times, going 87 yards in just 4 plays- the last 10 on a WR screen to Kinoshita, They followed that up with a trick play 2-point conversion on a fake dive pass from TB Takuya Furutani to TE Akimitsu Mori to take a 17-10 lead with 10:30 remaining.
On the first play of their next possession, Sugawara struck again on a 66-yard bomb to Kinoshita, sending the Fujitsu fans into shock and dismay.

Early in the game, both teams moved the ball on runs up the middle and several scrambles. Karl Noa admitted they did not have a man accounting for the QB.

Fujtsu led the game in almost every statistic, out-gaining Obic 365 to 337 and leading in time of possession by 7-1/2 minutes in spite of their no huddle offense.

"Their no huddle seemed to throw us out of our rhythm" said Noa. "We couldn't substitute, and it definitely had an affect on us", said Jackson. "But we got some hits on their QB, and that made a difference in the end".


All three foreign Seagulls expressed sympathy for Brad Brennan, who once again came close, but failed to make it to the Rice Bowl. "Brad played an awesome game," they all agreed.


Obic seemed intent on stopping the Fronteir's Takeshi Akiyama, and Brad capitalized. Brennan had 9 catches for 128 yards- big catches several on third and long, whether over the middle, on the sideline or on WR screens. Brennan had three catches on the final drive, as Fujitsu drove down to the Obic 11 ib the final minute. Three straight incompletions brought up 4th down. Brennan was able to work himself open in the end zone, but Izuhara's pass was off the mark. Izuhara finished 19-34 with 1 interception.

Kinoshita barely topped Brennan with 129 yards on 5 catches (the last two for TDs), while Ryoma Hagiyama had 8 catches for 91 yards for Obic.

The Fronteirs did a good job of containing Sugawara and the Seagulls- Sugawra picked up only 10 yards on the ground, while Furutani finished with 13 carries for 50 yards. But after a mediocre first three quarters, Sugawara's last four passes went for 43, 24, 10, and 66 (the last for TDs) so he finished 18-23 with no interceptions.

"They were doing a lot of different things," said Obic LG Frank fernandea, "but they always do" "We saw that they were trying to cover the best receiver in the league 1-on-1, so we decided to take advantage of that," added Fernandez.

While no surprise, the Fronteir's no-huddle attack gave the Seagulls some problems.
"we couldn't make substitutions like we wanted," Noa said. Both Noa and Jackson felt that some of the hits they put on the QB took their toll.

Jackson added that he will look forward to playing KG, as their offensive coordinator "is the same guy who brought me to Japan" when he was coaching for the Saeagulls.


When asked what he thought was the biggest factor in the game, Jackson said, "you know, momentum is such big factor in this league." Obic seemed to make it count the most.

JPFF SemiIfnals 2011-12-18

In JPFF semi-final action at Yokohama Stadium, the Eastern Conference finalists were determined.

The Urawa Ulowers (!) won the first game, handily defeating the Davey Jones 25-0.

But the second game was much more interesting. As the sun set over the rim of the stadium, the Brandings kicked a FG as time expired to defeat the Setagaya Southland Raiders 10-7.


The Brandings led 7-0 at halftime, before a blocked punt was scooped up and run back for a TD by the Raiders.

The Raiders seemed in control for much of the second half, yet their offense was unable to put the ball in the end zone. Still, when Tataki intercepted an Ooshiro pass at midfield with just over 5 minutes remaining, they seemed ready for the victory. The Raiders drove into scoring position, but missed their FG attempt, giving the ball back to the Brandings for their final drive.

The Brandings were stopped at the Raiders 12 yard line in the final minute and lined up for a short FG. which was blocked. But the officials ruled that the Raiders had made illegal contact with the center, giving the Brandings a first down at the 6. A couple of runs failed to scored, so they lined up for a FG. The kick finally went through, and the Brandings moved on to the Eastern Championship game in Kawasaki on January 16th.

X-League Semi-Finals 2011-12-04 Yokohama Stadium

The Obic Seagulls will return to the Tokyo Dome once again to defend their X-Bowl title against the Fujtsu Frontiers, as they manhandled the Kajima Deers 45-20 in semi-final action on Sunday, while Fujitsu blasted the Nojima Rise 38-3.

The Seagull lines were dominant on both sides of the ball. OT Frank Fernandez said they took much of their game plan from watching Nojima in their victory a couple of weeks ago on the same field. "They like to stunt and blitz a lot, so we were able to run Power and get the running game rolling."

Obic scored on their opening drive, and went up 17-3 on a 42 yard pass from Sugawara to Furatani to on the final play of the first quarter. Sugawara was 16-26-1 for 203 yards; meanwhile Katoh and Ozaki went 16-39 and 4 interceptions, including three in the final quarter, dooming any real chance Kajima might have had at staging a comeback.

Vice-captain Kevin Jackson said, "We were disguising our coverages a bit and I think that confised them", said Jackson.

At one point, Kajima threatened to get back in the game. A 2nd quarter TD and a 3-and-out defensive stop, the Deers took over trailing 17-10. Jackson tipped a pass, and Mitsunori Kihara intercepted the ball at the Kajima 20. Two plays later, Sugawara scored on a 15-yard run, and Obic never needed look over its shoulder again.


The Seagulls outgained the Deers 193 to 156 yards on the ground. Furutani picked up 110 on 18 carries.


The second half didn't go much better for the Deers- they were able to manage one touchdown, Satoh going over from the 1 late in the 3rd quarter. But in the final period, they were stopped on downs once, and their final three drives ended with interceptions.

"Our defense is well-suited to what they do. early in the year we faced a lot of running teams, but today we were able to use our pass rush well", said Jackson.


In the second game, the Fujitsu Frontiers turned in a dominating performance to return to the X-Bowl for the second time in three years, defeating the Nojima Rise 38-3.

Despite a noticable size advantage, it was the Fujitsu Frontiers that outgained Nojima Rise 257 to 123 on the ground, and added 158 yards in the air.


Nojima actually struck first, taking the opening kickoff and marching down to the Fujitsu on 12 plays, setting for a 42-yard Idezawa field goal, what turned out to be the only points of the day for the Rise.

But Fujitu responded with a 65-yard drive in 7 plays, as Motoki Yoshida hit Brad Brennan in the corner of the end zone on a 22 yard scoring strike to make it 7-3. Nojima fumbled three plays later, Kosuke Kamiyama took it in from 7 yards out, and it remained 14-3 at halftime.

On the opening drive of the 2nd half, Fujitsu followed up a good return with a drive, Kon scored from a yard out on 4th and goal to make it 21-3. Kamiyama scored again on their next drive, as they went 79 yards in 5 plays, and the rout was on. Kamiyama finished with 117 and 2 TDs on 22 carries.

The Frontiers only need to throw 15 times in the game, completing 10 of them, as snaps were shared by Yoshida (4-6), Izuhara (5-8), and Hiramoto. Nojima's Kinoshita finished only 10-22 with 1 interception.

Brennan said, "alot of the credit goes to the defense- they've been playing really well".


Fujitsu has made it to the X-Bowl twice, in 2007 aND 2009 and lost both times. e Frontiers faced the Seagulls in the X-League championship game in 2002, a game won by the Seagulls 14-7.