Frontiers win opening game
(September 3, 2009) - The Fujitsu Frontiers opened the 2009 X League season with a 24-7 win against IBM BigBlue. In front of nearly 5.000 fans at the Tokyo Dome the Frontiers took a 21-0 lead at halftime. RB Hiroyuki Morimoto opened the scoring with a 1-yard run four minutes into the game. On the first play of the second quarter QB Motoki Yoshida threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to WR Brad Brennan, and with about half a minute left before halftime Yoshida and Brennan teamed up for a second touchdown (9 yards) that increased the lead to 21-0. IBM scored on a 5-yard touchdown pass from QB Kotaro Okamura to WR Michihiro Ogawa with just under five minutes left in the third quarter. The Frontiers kicked a 32-yard field goal on the first play of the fourth quarter and later stopped BigBlue at the goal line ending IBM's hope of a comeback.
(Text: Dieter Hoch)
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X League wants more quality games
(August 16, 2009) - The X League modified the regular season schedule for the 2009 fall season. The league will remain aligned in three division (east, central and west) with six teams each. In the first stage of the regular season each team will play five games within the division. The league added a second stage. The top three teams of each division will qualify for the second stage. Those nine teams will be realigned in three groups with one first place team, one second place team and one third place team in each group. The three group winners plus the best of the three second place teams will move on to the semifinals. The winner of the semifinals will play in the Japan X Bowl.
"We want to increase the number of quality games", says Kiyoyuki Mori, head coach of the japanese national team and the Kajima Deers of the X League. "We have five or six top teams that are pretty even. The rest of the teams are significantly weaker so that we have a lot 50-0 or 60-0 games. In the second stage just the best teams play against each other. With that we will get more quality games."
(Text: Dieter Hoch)
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Deers win Pearl Bowl
(June 22, 2009) - One offensive touchdown was enough for the Kajima Deers to win this year's Pearl Bowl, the X League's spring tournament for the teams in East Japan, in front of 11.823 spectators at the Tokyo Dome. With just under three and a half minutes left in the game RB Yasuhiro Maruta scored on a 9-yard run and a two point conversion (pass from QB Yosuke Ozaki) to lead the Deers to a 20-17 win over the Obic Seagulls. The Seagulls took a 3-0 lead just over four minutes into the game on a 33-yard field goal and increased the lead to 10-0 four and a half minutes later with a 33-yard touchown pass by QB Manabu Tatsumura to WR Ken Shimizu. But after the folllowing kickoff Yasushi Nakagawa returned the ball 93 yards for a touchdown to cut the Seagulls' lead to 10-7. The Deers tied the game on a 23-yard field goal seven minutes and ten seconds into the third quarter.
The Seagulls regained the lead with about nine minutes left in the game when LB Naoki Kosho first recorded a quarterback sack and then returned the ball 45 yards for a touchdown. The Deers cut the Seaguls' lead to 17-12 with a safety four and a half minutes later. After the ensuing kickoff the Deers took possession at the 50-yard -line and it took them just three plays to score the game winning touchdown. The Seagulls got the ball one more time and reached Kajima's 16-yard line but a field goal attempt with just under two and a half minutes left in the game was wide left.
The Green Bowl, the spring tournament for the X League teams in West Japan, was won by Panasonic Denko Impulse. The 2008 Japan X Bowl winner defeated the Asahi Soft Drinks Challengers 69-14. The best players for the most dominating X League team of the past few years were RB Masahiro Ishino and WR Shoei Hasegawa. Both scored two touchdowns.
(Text: Dieter Hoch)
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