November 3rd is "Culture Day" in Japan. For me that means football!
Not a lot of scoring on Tuesday at AminoVital Field (with Mt. Fuji in the background on the left in the photo, and football in the foreground on the right).
But nonetheless, there was some some exciting, hard-hitting football for the national holiday. In all, four games (count 'em!). Double,-double the fun! Well, not exactly, as at the lower divisions and the medical leagues, they play with 10-minute quarters.
The first three games were amongst medical university teams. In Japan, students apply for and enter medical and dental schools directly after high school, and undergo a six year education. This, of course means that in addition to never worrying about injuries receiving enough attention at their football games, athletes are a whole given 6 years of eligibility, and play in special leagues.
In the morning game (10 AM Kickoff!), the the Nihon U. Monster Squad were stung for the 3rd time this season, this time by the Tokyo U. Sorpions, 14-0. [OK there's one mascot pun; but at least i promise not to make any cheap doctor jokes[.
Next, in a contest between last year's Medical School A Block co-champions the Teikyo U. Rascals and the Showa University Mad Dogs. The two teams tussled their way to a 3-0 upset victory for the Mad Dogs. Both teams are now 1-2, with two more games to play.
Meanwhile the players and staff of the Jikkei Crickets were looking on, quietly cheering the Mad Dogs as they warmed up for their math against the Roadrunners. The Crickets came out on top of their game 15-7, so they lead the now consolidated Division I with a perfect 3-0 record, with their last two games remaining against those Rascals and Mad Dogs.
The 4th game was an "Area League" (below Division III) contest between the Shibaura Fighting Engineers , and Tokyo Keizi University Falcons. Both teams were unbeaten coming into this game (it was only their second game), and this game was for the top of the division, as the top-seeded Dokkyo Green Monsters have already lost twice.
I was very impressed by how well-coached each time seems to be, and they are undoubtedly on the rise.
The Falcons struck first with a field goal, and the Fighting Engineers tied the game on a FG just before halftime to make it 3-3. The Engineers went ahead late in the 3rd Quarter, 10-3. But the Falcons answered that with a TD of their own early in the 4th Quarter to tie it at 10-10. The Fighting Engineers, dressed in their all white uniforms- just think of Penn State, but rather in green, with a block 'S' on the side of their helmets- then started a sustained drive, and scored with just a few minutes left. Without hesitation, they lined up but faked the extra point conversion, throwing to the flat for two points to make it 18-10. That gamble seemed to put extra pressure on the Falcons, who after moving the ball to midfield, threw an interception, thus sealing the win for Shibaura. The Fighting Engineers are now at the top of their division, which is quite an accomplishment for a team that only started up playing football again last year.
