The feel-good story for the 2009 football season has to be the triumph of the Kansai Unversity Kaisers. The Kaisers closed out their season on Saturday, defeating Konan 44-7 before a large crowd of their fans at suburban Kobe's Oji Stadium, to go a perfect 7-0 and win the Kansai League for the first time in 61 years.
The star QB of their 1948 team was Heian Hazama, now the honorary Chairman of the American Football Association's Western Conference, who was positively beaming after the game.
Kansai had finished the 2008 season in 5th place. They shocked the Kansai football world earlier in the season by knocking off perennial powers Ritsumeikan and Kansai Gakuin, by 14-7 and 17-13 scores, respectively.
Much of the credit is given to their head coach an alumnus of former power Kyoto University, who has overseen upgrading of the facilities and the program.
