X-Bowl 2015 Tokyo Dome (aka The Big EGG) 12/14 19:00

Perennial Kansai powerhouse the Panasonic Impulse return to the Tokyo Dome for Japan X Bowl to face X-League defending champion Fujitsu Frontiers. The Impulse last won the X-League's championship game in 2008, and last appeared in 2010. Kickoff is at 7PM.

Both teams come into the game at 8-0, making it through the First Stage, Second Stage, and then their semi-final games undefeated. Fujitsu beat the Obic Seagulls 27-6 to reach the final, while Panasonic scored four TDs in the 1st quarter en route to a 45-17 victory over the Nojima Sagamihara Rise.

The Frontiers kept the Impulse out of the championship game the last two years (and three of the last four). Fujitsu finally won the title last year after failing five times. 

Panasonic DL David Motu said, “I’m really glad...this is my third year, and we’ve lost to Fujitsu ever since I’ve been here, so we’re ready to get our revenge...We all believe it."


They'll be facing former Louisiana Tech QB #3 Colby Cameron, who is rolling along again this year.  He was 31-47 for 360 yards in the semifinal. But Cameron credits his receivers such as #81 Teruaki Clark Nakamura, #22 Junpei Yoshimoto, and #87 Yuji Mizuno, saying,  "They’re the play-makers, not me.”

Cameron joined the Frontiers last year and threw for 445 yards and four TDs in the 48-24 victory over Panasonic, which ended the Impulse's string of five consecutive West Division titles.

 Panasonic head coach Nobuyoshi Araki says,“After the big shock last year, we made a lot of changes in our roster. By changing how we approach each day, we’ve made it here today.”

X-League rules now allow up to four foreign players, in addition to foreign players who played for Japanese Universities, such as #17 Motu (Nihon University), and Impulse #61 Scott Duffy (Waseda) from Huntington Beach, CA, who switched from playing DL to OL. Duffy was joined on the OL this year by  #65 Edmond Davis (Alabama State), to open holes for #24 Ben Dupree (The Citadel), a former triple-option QB. On the defensive side of the ball, the Impulse added DB #10 Emory Polley (Brown), and #21 Carlton Jones (Alabama State) to join Motu on the DL.

In addition to Cameron, Fujitsu has DB #40 AL-Rilwan Adeyami (San Diego), and LB #16 Nixon Tra Shoun Oshae (New Mexico). RB #29 Gino Gordon (Harvard), who was last year’s game MVP, has a leg injury that will keep him out of the championship game.

Panasonic will try to pressure Cameron, but that's easier said than done. “He sets up deep and the timing of his passes is so quick, says Araki, " Lixil, Obic or whoever, had a strategy to pressure him, but couldn’t get to him. If you blitz, he soon finds the open spot. He makes it very difficult.”

Cameron this year is 178-256 for 2,350 yards and 28 TDs versus only 3 INTs. He was injured in last year's X-Bowl, and did not play in the second half of that game, nor in the Rice Bowl against Kwansei Gakuin, which Fujitsu also won, with QB #12 Keiya Hiramoto filling in for Cameron.

For their part, Frontiers head coach Satoshi Fujita is concerned about Dupree behind that offensive line, "He is very quick and fast. He has the ability to get into the end zone. All we can do, is just do our job and make tackles.”

The winner will face Ritsumeikan in the Rice Bowl on Sunday, January 3rd (2PM). Ritsumeikan defeated Waseda 28-27 on Sunday at Koshien to win the Japan collegiate championship.