Around the League: Wrapup of Week 2 Action

East Division

Fujitsu Frontiers 98, Metropolitan Police Dept. Eagles 7: Colby Cameron completed 9 0f 9 passes for three touchdowns and 164 yards in a limited appearance and Kei Goto rushed for three scores as defending champion Fujitsu posted its most lopsided and highest-scoring victory ever with a rout at Fujitsu Stadium Kawasaki. Gino Gordon ran for two touchdowns, but had two others called back by due to penalties. The Eagles score came on a 3-yard run by Takashi Sakoda after Clark Teruaki Nakamura fumbled a punt return on Fujitsu 5. Nakamura made up for it on the next series by catching a 40-yard touchdown pass from Keiya Hiramoto. First-year linebacker Trasaun Nixon returned an interception 26 yards for the Frontiers’ final score. Al-Rilwan Adeyami also had an interception, and Shohei Yoshimoto returned the second-half kickoff 94 yards for a touchdown.

Nojima Sagamihara Rise 20, Obic Seagulls 17, OT: Kohei Mochizuki kicked a 27-yard field goal after Toru Sakuma intercepted a Shun Sugawara pass in the first tiebreaker of overtime, giving Nojima its first-ever victory over Obic in a thriller before a home crowd at Sagamihara Gion Stadium. Safety Manu Ngatikaura returned one of four Nojima interceptions 37 yards for a touchdown in the third quarter to put the Rise up 17-9, but the Seagulls tied the game on Asaki Mochizuki’s 2-yard touchdown run and a successful 2-point conversion at 4:10 of the fourth quarter. Ben Anderson led the Rise to scores on their first two drives, throwing a 10-yard touchdown pass to Yasunori Kaneko and setting up a 47-yard field goal by Mochizuki, but could make little headway the rest of the way against a stiff Obic defense. Takushiro Hata, who started at QB in the second half for Obic, threw a 16-yard TD pass to Takuya Furutani, but also had three interceptions, including Ngatikaura’s pick-6. Nojima had faced Obic every year at some stage during the fall season since 2011 and lost all four games.

All Mitsubishi Lions 45, Meiji Yasuda Penta-Ocean Pirates 6: Burly quarterback Shoma Taniguchi ran for two touchdowns, including a 77-yarder on the opening series of the game, and passed for two more as All Mitsubishi rolled to a one-sided win before 6,250 at Tokyo Dome. Yasuhiro Suzuki and Ryosuke Ogata both had touchdown runs in the second quarter as the Lions went into halftime with a 35-0 lead.  The 90-kilogram Taniguchi, who also fills the role of punter, completed 10 of 13 passes for 176 yards, while rushing for 104 yards on four carries as the Lions amassed 506 total yards. The Lions defense forced three turnovers and recorded three sacks. Quarterback Shotaro Tanoue accounted for the Pirates’ points with a 20-yard touchdown run in the third quarterback, and the bulk of the offense by completing 14 of 24 passes for 96 yards and rushing 20 times for 38 yards.

Central Division

IBM BigBlue 72, Bulls Football Club 0: Tomokazu Sueyoshi ran for three touchdowns and 150 yards on 12 carries as IBM stormed to its second rout of the season by pummeling the Bulls at Fujitsu Kawasaki Stadium. Kevin Craft, playing a little over a quarter, and backup Satoshi Tagawa each threw for two touchdowns and Ryo Takagi also rushed for two for IBM, which opened the season with a record-setting 117-0 win over the Hurricanes. IBM’s defense surprisingly forced no turnovers and had no sacks, but held the Bulls to 148 total yards and scored a safety by blocking a punt in the first quarter.  Hirokazu Matsuo, Atsushi Uehiro, Yu Nakajima and Kohei Kajikawa each caught a touchdown pass.

Lixil Deers 110, Hurricanes 3: Shohei Kato and Hiroyuki Obayashi each threw for two touchdowns as Lixil became the third team in league history to score 100 points or more in a fall season game—and the second to do it against the Hurricanes in two weeks. Yasushi Nakagawa had two of the Deers’ three punt returns for touchdowns, and also caught a TD pass, while Yoshinari Iwakura and Masaki Ono each rushed for a pair of touchdowns at Fujitsu Kawasaki Stadium. The Lixil defense forced four turnovers, returning one fumble and one interception for scores. The Hurricanes, who were dealt a league-record 117-0 loss by IBM in their season-opening game, got a 35-yard field goal by Seitaro Iwasaki as time expired in the first half, a drive was set up when Ryohei Sasaki broke away on runs of 32 and 11 yards. The Deers’ time of possession totaled just 13:06 as none of their 11 scoring drives took more than six plays.

Asahi Beer Silver Star 70, Tokyo Gas Creators 7: Mason Mills threw three touchdown passes to Roman Wilson, who also returned a punt 95 yards for a score, and two to Yuta Hayashi as Asahi Beer routed Tokyo Gas at Fujitsu Stadium Kawasaki. Backup QB Kazuma Ando, who completed just one of his first nine passes, threw for two touchdowns, and 41-year-old veteran Minoru Tono got in the act with a 36-yard TD toss in the fourth quarter. Mills completed 16 of 20 passes for 276 yards, while Wilson finished with eight catches for 172 yards. Defensive back Yoki Uemura returned one of five Tokyo Gas fumbles 50 yards for a touchdown, and also had an interception. One fumble came after Tokyo Gas completed a 73-yard pass to put the ball on the Asahi Beer 20. The Creators got a 1-yard touchdown run by Fumitaka Obana in the fourth quarter to cap a 13-play, 83-yard drive.

West Division

Asahi Soft Drinks Challengers 62, Fuji Xerox J-Stars 7: Yusuke Kano threw for three touchdowns in the first quarter, spearheading Asahi Soft Drinks rout of Fuji Xerox at Osaka’s Flash Field. Yuki Shirakami broke away for touchdown runs of 47 and 23 yards and Yutaka Tatsumi had a 52-yarder in the second quarter as the Challengers piled up 387 of their 477 total yards on the ground in preparation for their big showdown with West rival Panasonic on Sept. 23. Wide receiver Kazuki Kawada scored on 13-yard reverse for one of three second-half touchdowns. Backup QB Masayoshi Hayashi, who threw for one touchdown, and Kano both completed 5 of 6 passes. The J-Stars, coming off a 90-0 thrashing by Panasonic in their opening game, avoided the shutout when Yusaku Miyagi and Hiroaki Tagawa connected on a 50-yard touchdown pass midway through the fourth quarter.

Elecom Kobe Finies 71, Nagoya Cyclones 14: Keijiro Kasuya threw for three touchdowns in the first half and ran for one in the second as defending West champion Elecom piled up 519 yards of offense in thrashing Nagoya at Osaka’s Expo Flash Field. Funake Inoke, who shared the quarterbacking duties, ran for a pair of touchdowns and threw for another. The Finies had two of their four interceptions in the first quarter, both deep in Nagoya territory, but could only convert them into three points. After the second pick, the Cyclones put up an impressive goal-line stand to stop the Finies on 4th-and-goal at the 1, but the Finies defense responded with a safety on the next play. Nagoya’s Takafumi Yamamoto threw a 24-yard touchdown pass to Yosuke Nagai with :24 left in the first half, then connected with Takeyuki Suzuki on a 6-yard score in the fourth quarter.

Panasonic Impulse 50, As One Black Eagles 0: Tetsuo Takata threw two touchdown passes to Koji Honda in the first half and Benjamin Dupree broke away for a 74-yard touchdown run as Panasonic overwhelmed As One at Osaka’s Expo Flash Field. Hayato Araki and Shunichi Iwata both had short touchdown runs and backup QB Takashi Ohara threw a 3-yard touchdown pass to Koji Takagi with :02 left in the game. Defensive back Emory Polley, a two-time All-Ivy League selection at Brown, had an interception as the Impulse defense forced four turnovers and held As One to 76 total yards. The Impulse were flagged for nine penalties for 73 yards, including twice after recovering a fumble at the Eagles 9, leading them to have to settle for the second of three field goals.

Biggest margins of victory in league history

Score                                                              Date

1.    117  IBM 117, Hurricanes 0     2023/09/05

2.   107  Lixil 110, Hurricanes 3 2023/09/13

3.   100 Obic 100, Bulls 0                                 2023/09/14

4.     91           Fujitsu 98, Metropolitan Police Dept. 7 2023/09/12

5.     90 Panasonic 90, Fuji Xerox J-Stars 0     2023/08/29

6.     89 Panasonic 89, Fuji Xerox J-Stars 0     2023/09/19

7.     88 Onward-Skylarks 91, Huskies 3 2004/10/23　　88 Panasonic 88, Nishinomiya 0 2023/09/23

8.     87 Fujitsu 87, Hurricanes 0 2023/09/14

9.     86 Obic 86, Taiyo Bldg. Management 0 2023/08/31

10.   85 Kajima 85, Fuji Xerox AFC 0 2023/09/05