Over the years, the X-League Championship games have often been filled with excitement and gone down to the end, and this one was certainly no different.
Down 21-10 midway through the 4th Quarter, The Panasonic Impulse rallied, scoring with 1:11 remaining to take the lead, and held on for their first X-League championship since 2008 over the defending champion Fujitsu Frontiers. They were helped out along the way by three costly interceptions thrown by Frontier QB Colby Cameron, two of them coming late in each half leading to scores.
On Fujtsu's first possession QB #3 Colby Cameron engineered a 10-play, 90 yard TD drive for the Frontiers, scoring on an 8 yard pass to #87 Yuji Mizuno.
Both teams then took turns moving into enemy territory before punting, until late in the 2nd Quarter, when Fujitsu tried to move quickly in their 2-minute offense for a possible score. It went well for a couple of throws, until Cameron threw again into the flat, where it was intercepted by #10 Emory Polley, who ran it back 32 yards to make it 7-7 with 23 seconds left in the half. Polley said he tried to bait Cameron. The QB simply said, "It was just a forced ball, and I wasn't accurate...he's a good corner."So the game was tied, 7-7 at halftime.
The main feature of the Halftime Show was some singer apparently famous for some famous song or another [not seen].
And oh, yes. Cheerleaders. Lots of cheerleaders.
etc.Anyway, in the 3rd Quarter both offenses began to establish themselves: the Impulse on the ground, the Frontiers in the air. Panasonic gained 164 of their 298 yards in the game rushing, led by #33 Shun Yokota who had 16 carries for 98 yards. Panasonic's first drive of the half ended with a FG, giving them a 10-7 lead.
Fujitsu responded with a 9 play, 76 yard drive, capped by a 16 yard pass from #3 Cameron to #22 Junpei Yoshimoto to retake the lead and make it 14-10.
Two series later, Fujitsu started from their own 8, and drove all the way to the Panasonic 10, but Cameron was intercepted by in the end zone.
Several times in the game Cameron was able to complete passes deep, including a 30 yard toss to #87 Mizuno, and throws of 59 and 32 yards to #81 Teruaki Clark Nakamura. Cameron finished 25-42 for 322 yards and 3 TDs, but 3 costly INTs severely hurt the Frontiers. "Trying to make a play, and sometimes you try to make too many plays," he said.
Undaunted, after forcing a Panasonic punt, Cameron marched the Frontiers down the field, scoring in 6 plays from the two-yard-line, on a throw to #17 Takeshi Akiyama, and Fujitsu had what seemed to be comfortable 21-10 lead with just 7 minutes to go. Panasonic failed to convert on 4th down, and the game appeared to be all but over with Fujitsu taking over near midfield with 5:21 to go.
But Fujitsu chose not to play conservative, immediately going to the air. Cameron inexplicably threw an interception over the middle, setting up the Impulse in at the Frontier 42. "You're taught, when you are 8, 9, 10 years old, never to throw the ball late across the middle. That's my fault, and I've just got to learn," said Cameron.
The very next play, #8 Tetsuo Takata found #15 Tatusya Tonka deep, and while the 2-point conversion failed, Panasonic suddenly only trailed 21-16.
A penalty on the kickoff return pushed the Frontiers back to their own 12. Three plays netted 0 yards, so after the punt and return, Panasonic was in business at the Fujitsu 33 with 3:28 left. On the fifth play of the drive, from the Frontier 15, #8 Takata was able to hit #89 Taiji Koyama, and The Impulse was suddenly ahead. Takata then rolled out and ran in the two-point conversion to make it 24-21.
Fujitsu was then in desperation mode. But Cameron lost the ball carrying it on a 4th down scramble, the Impulse took over with 36 seconds left, and the sizable Impulse crowd celebrated.
The Impulse felt they were able to follow their game plans: Polley said the defense wanted to try to get pressure on Cameron and "see what happened". On offense, OG #61 Scott Duffy said, "We wanted to run the ball, and we did. They're a good team." Overall, Futjitsu outgained Panasonic 401-298. Game MVP Tetsuo Takata was 12-17 and 134 yards passing for the Impulse.
Center #65 Edmond Davis said they, "went to the pass a little bit to open up the run, but basically we stuck with the game plan. We had two or three different situations, but we had it. We had everything. We knew they weren't going to play us like they played everybody else this season...The D-Line, instead of trying to fill their gap, they were trying to stalemate, so we were able to take advantage and get one-on-one with the linebacker, and the middle opened wide up."
Clearly disappointed with the result, Cameron said "...it's part of the process, part of the job."
But he praised the Impulse defense, "They did a good job getting pressure, but actually today, they played what was on film. I was shocked. So many teams try to surprise you. They played base defense, and really good team defense...They do a very good job. They have a safety, #12 [Imaishi], he was comes up in the box, really well, like a mini-Kam Chancellor [Seattle Seahawks]."
