X-Bowl 2013

One again, the Fujitsu Frontiers were  unable to take the top prize in football in Japan, and the Obic Seagulls return to the Rice Bowl as X League champions.

A highly entertaining- though often sloppy- 27th Japan X-Bowl thrilled the 22,488 who looked on.  At key moments the crowd was as loud as any I can remember in the Big Egg.

Fujitsu won the toss, but their luck soon turned bad. #12 QB Keiya Hiramoto was injured on a flying sack, and the Frontiers turned the ball  three of the first five times they had the ball. #18 Akihiro Izuhara took over for the injured Hiramoto, and on their second possession a strip sack gave Obic the ball on the Fujitsu 34 yard line. Four plays later #6 Shun Sugawara hit #18 Noriaki Kinoshita on well-timed 14 yard slant for a TD, though missed the extra point was missed.

A couple of drives later Obic marched 82 yards in 11 plays, scoring on a HB Option Pass from #20 Takuya Furutani to #89 Akimitsu Mori.  The replay clearly showed that Mori juggled the ball and did not gain possession until after his knee had struck out of bounds, but Japan does not allow for instant replay to overturn calls, so the TD stood. The Seagulls successfully went for two to make it 14-0 at 12:55 in the 2nd quarter, and #1 Yusuke Kaneoya added a field goal later in the half to cap another 11 play drive, and so it was 17-0 at half time.

It should have been a much worse for Fujitsu, Izuhara seemed rattled, threw an interception to #25 Keizaburo Ichikawa, who returned it 56 yards to the Frontier six yard line; later a fumble by RB #20 Keita Takanohashi  at their 22.  But Obic failed to capitalize in both cases, Sugawara throwing an interception of his own from the three yard line on second down; and again from the three after the fumble, as #40 Al-Rilwan Adeyami stripped Sugawara of the ball into the end zone.  Adeyami tried to run it out, but officials gave them a touchback.  Here again the officials seemed to miss the call- the replay seemed to show Sugawara's knee was down just short of the goal line before the ball came out.

Throughout the half, Fujitsu had tried unsuccessfully to run wide, and Izuhara seemed uncomfortable doing anything other than throw to the flat and the corner.  #11 Kevin Jackson was an especially disruptive force coming off the edge hampering the Frontier running game and with the pass rush.

Obic Head Coach Makoto Ohashi said he  told his defense before the game and  at half-time to be patient and have confidence in themselves and in the game plan, which for the most part, seemed to work well.





The second half didn't start much better for the Frontiers- Obic crossed midfield before punting.  Hiramoto returned to QB for Fujitsu, only to be tipped and intercepted by DL Byron  Beatty at the 32 and returned all the way to the Fujitsu four. 

On the next play, Sugawara found #85 Ryoma Hagiyama in the end zone to amke it 24-0 midway throught the third quarter. 


Izuhara and the Frontiers seemed to get some confidence back, mixing inside runs and passes, and were finally able to get on the board with  a 37 yard Hidetetsu Nishimura field goal to make it 24-3 with 5:37 left in the third quarter.

Adeyami made a nice interception of Sugawara early in the fourth quarter, and Izuhara marched the Frontiers 61 yards down to a score, throwing to TE #48 Eiji Shjiraki from four yards out, to make it 24-9.  Inexplicably, Fujitsu went for two here and failed.

[Had the first score been a TD rather than a FG, a two point conversion might have been understandable- 3x8=24, thereby meaning only two more "scores" would be required, though expecting to convert two-point conversions three times is something of a long shot.  24-10 Fujitsu would have meant Fujitsu could try for two later; or just go into overtime, as if they were that fortunate to tie it  up with two 7 point scores in the fourth quarter, Obic's defense would likely be rather tired, giving Fujitsu pretty good odds in overtime.]

Obic went three and out, and Fujitsu took over with 6:38 left took eight plays (and two timeouts) to go 55 yards, with Izuhara keeping the ball on fourth and goal to score and kicked to make it 24-16 with 2:23 remaining. 

The onside kick failed, Obic took over near midfield and ran the ball three times, and then Fujitsu called their final time out with 44 seconds remaining.  Kaneoya's punt was partially blocked, no Frontier dared handle it, and the ball dropped and continued spinning at the  Fujitsu 31 yard line, surrounded by Seagulls disciplined enough not to touch it.  17 seconds had expired before the official finally blew the play dead. 

Working without timeouts, Izuhara was able to move the Frontiers across midfield, suddenly unafraid to use middle crossing routes, eventually hitting #22 Junpei Yoshimoto who reached the Seagull 36 with for a first down with 3 seconds remaining.  Fujitsu was able to line up and spike the ball, giving them one second on the clock.

Ohashi inserted Kinoshita and other athletes for the anticipated Hail Mary, which the Seagull defenders were able to knock down, and once again come away with the victory.  He said they had practiced that, figuring that the game was very likely to come down to such a play.



[The half time show was...some short J-pop idol which is something I hardly know anything about.  I am pretty sure she would say the same about American Football.]


Foreign players featured prominently in the game. Besides Byron Beatty's  big interception and return for the Seagulls, Kevin Jackson was chosen MVP, and Al-Rilwan Adeyami of Fujitsu was awarded MIP. 






Obic will face Kwansei Gakuin in the Rice Bowl on January 3rd.  KG defeated Nihon University 23-9 on Sunday in the Koshien Bowl.