Made it to Kawasaki for triple-headers on Saturday and Sunday- mostly KCFA games, but the night game on Sunday was the Unisys Bulls playing the Asahi Silver Stars on their home turf. Unisys started the game with a nice drive or two, but hampered themselves with fumbles, giving the ball away as they neared the goal line. Asahi finally got moving, and took command. Unisys had hoped that its speed could help negate the Silver Stars' superior size, but seemed to wear down.
In the early game on Sunday, Keio was well out in front of Yohohama Kokuritsu before the Mastiffs rallied late for three scores. It didn't change the result, but I was impressed by the Yokohama QB's handling of the hurry-up offense. I think they are the first Japanese team I have seen this year that doesn't spike the ball on first down, a procedure that seems ridiculous to me- most teams trailing run out of downs before they run out of seconds.
Indeed, at the end of the middle game, Tokyo University spiked the ball on 1st and 3rd down with the ball at the Hosei goal line, effectively giving them only two chances to score instead of four. The Warriors gave the Tomahawks some problems with their option. But good pursuit generally contained the damage. Hosei looked alternatively sharp and sloppy, but most of the time I got the feeling they were just toying with their opponent.
I was looking forward to seeing Saturday's games after Kokushukan's upset of Waseda. The Rhiniceros did not fail to impress- they simply are not afraid, and gave Senshu all they could handle before losing 27-21 in overtime. Waseda seems to shaken off their previous loss, and Nichidai looked dominant.
It was really great hearing the student bands out there- it couldn't have been easy especially sitting on the visitors sideline facing the sun directly, but they really added something positive to the atmosphere!
