After spotting the Fujitsu Frontiers a 10-0 lead at halftime, the Kajima Deers took control in the second half and prevailed 17-10, in Japan's 36th Pearl Bowl.
The Frontiers went up and had opportunities to go out to a big lead in the first half, but squandered too many opportunities. Fujitsu bested Kajima 18-14 in first downs; 275-207 in passing; and 361-308 in total yards, but could not hold on to their early lead, nor rally at the end, once again falling short.
Fujitsu won the toss, and elected to receive (most Japanese teams choose not to defer). They started their opening drive with three straight swing passes, and continued to work the edges and flats. Keiya Hiramoto then hit Shimpei Yoshimoto up the seam for 25 yards, and Fujitsu was in business, and they began to move the ball on the ground. 5 minutes in they had scored, Yusuke Shinshi running it in from 7 yards out.
Kajima used their superior size to move into Fujitsu territory , but Daisuke Aoki's 47 yard FG attempt was blocked by Paul Yasui rushing up the middle.
Fujitsu quickly drove and threatened to score again, but a short 22-yard FG attempt missed.
A Frontiers blitz put the Deers in poor field position, and the punt was returned to the Kajima 40. Fujitsu drove down, and the next FG attempt was successful, making it 10-0 early in the 2nd quarter.
The Frontiers began to wear down the Deers defense, as Kajima began to miss tackles, trying to make arm tackles from out of position. Another Fujitsu drive got them close, but a sack resulted in another kick wide by Daichi Gotoh, so the score remained 10-0 at halftime.
Kajima went to work quickly in the second half, moving the ball through the air on a brisk drive, (#10) Takuya Yamashiro hitting (#11) Naoki Maeda going straight up the sideline for a 29 yard TD to make it 10-7.
The next time they had the ball, from midfield (#81) Yasuhiro Miyamoto caught a shallow cross and outran most of the Fujitsu defense, finally knocked out of bounds at the 5. On 3rd down, (#25) Yujiro Iwai caught the ball on a double slant near the end-line, appearing to step out, but it was ruled a TD, to give Kajima the lead 14-10. Fujitsu was suddenly on its heels, after dominating the first half.
Kajima LB #37 Kenjiro Ohodate finished with a game-high 11 tackles.
Both teams used the shallow cross and check-downs frequently in the second half, until Kajima had the lead late, when they hit a couple of corner routes to move the ball into field goal position, where ## converted to make it 17-10 with 2:35 remaining.
Fujitsu would not down easily, however. Starting from their own 23 after the kickoff, they moved the ball past midfield, helped out by a face mask penalty. But after moving into Kajima territory and looking like they had a good chance to possibly tie the game and take it into overtime, Hiramoto, who had such strong first half, suddenly began to feel the pressure. On second down, instead of throwing the ball away, he attempted to scramble and was sacked for a loss of 15. They were able to make up half of the distance on 3rd down, but his 4th down pass sailed over the head of his receiver on a short throw, and Kajima took over on downs to run out the clock.
The crowd was officially announced as 19,250.
