While perhaps not quite as exciting as the Koshien bowl, the games at the Edogawa Track and Field Stadium were still quite close to the end.
In the Outreach Bowl, the Over 39ers scored with just over a minute left, and defeated the Under 59ers 13-0. The 39ers team consisted of older players from several teams in the UF.
The game was played with special rules that essentially forbade contact below the waist or tackling below the ground, and did away with kickoffs. But it was still a good, exciting match.
After a prolonged ceremony my various Edogawa officials (and singing of the rousing Edogawa anthem), the 18th annual Urban Bowl kicked off at 13:30.
The game featured a rematch of the top two teams in A-Block, who won their semi-final games on November 29th. In their regular season game in October, the Beattle Hawks scored the only touchdown in first quarter in a 10-6 victory.
This game would turn out to be even closer. While perhaps not quite as exciting as the Koshien bowl, the Thunderbirds repeated as champions of the UFL by defeating the Battle Hawks by the lowest score possible in a football game actually played: 2-0. (A forfeit is recorded as a 1-0 score). It came on a safety early in the 2nd Quarter.
After intercepting a pass on the Thunderbird's first play from scrimmage, the battle Hawks drove down to the Thunderbird 3-yard line, where they fumbled the ball. After that, the Thunderbirds generally had the better field position throughout the day, twice downing punts in front of the Battle Hawk goal line early on.
Early in the 2nd Quarter, after two straight dives into the middle of the line, the Battle Hawks an a zone play to the right. But the running back Kohei Akahori was tackled behind the line of scrimmage by Sunada resulting in two points for the Thunderbirds.
The Thunderbirds used play action passing quite effectively to complement their run game.
After the halftime show- featuring four cheerleading teams associated with the Edogawa League, the teams continued in the second half much as they had in the first.- mostly a field position game. While both teams moved the ball between the thirties, they were unable to score. A late drive by the Thunderbirds, throwing(!) most of the way, brought them to 4th and goal from the 5 yard line. They tried another play action roll-out pass, which fell incomplete in the end zone.
Taking over with 1:46 remaining, the Battle Hawk used their own Wild Hawk formation to run the ball for a few plays, and then began throwing the ball to around midfield. Remarkably, they still huddled.
They were able to get the ball to the Thunderbird 45 yard line. But on their last play, a sort of tunnel screen, the receiver was tackled after a few yards to end the game.
It was the Thunderbird's fourth Urban League title, as they also won in 2001 and 2004, as well as in 2008. The Battle Hawks won 8 of the first 9 Urban Bowls, and won again in 2006.
