Around the league: Wrapup of Week 3 action

East Division

Fujitsu Frontiers 69, All Mitsubishi Lions 10: Colby Cameron, making his longest appearance of the season by playing through the third quarter, completed 26 of 40 passes for 407 yards and seven touchdowns as Fujitsu prepared for its upcoming showdown with Nojima by blasting All Mitsubishi at Fujitsu Stadium Kawasaki. Clark Teruaki Nakamura caught eight passes for 136 yards and two scores, while Yuji Mizuno and Sei Kyo also had two TD receptions each for the Frontiers, who piled up 648 yards of offense. Kei Goto broke free for a 70-yard touchdown run, and Hidetetsu Nishimura kicked two field goals, including a 52-yarder with :07 left in the half. Ryosuke Ogata returned the kickoff following that field goal 89 yards for a touchdown, and Hiroaki Wakamatsu kicked a 44-yard field goal to account for the Lions’ points.

Nojima Sagamihara Rise 45, Metropolitan Police Dept. Eagles 3: Ben Anderson completed 13 of 14 passes for 132 yards and two first-quarter touchdowns, leading Nojima to a rout of the MPD before a Friday night crowd of 2,894 at Tokyo Dome. Yuki Tomizawa rushed for two touchdowns in the second half as the Rise piled up 424 yards of offense. Yoshinobu Imoto and Ryota Shimodan caught touchdown passes from Anderson, and were among 15 players with at least one reception for the Rise. No player had more than two. Takashi Miyako scored on a 4-yard run in the second half and third-string QB Masato Kinoshita completed the scoring with a 48-yard touchdown pass to Yuji Otaki. The Eagles, who have yet to be shutout in three losses, avoided one when Ryuichi Harashima kicked a 45-yard field to end the first half.

Obic Seagulls 68, Meiji Yasuda PentaOcean Pirates 2: Takushiro Hata completed 17 of 20 passes for 234 yards and three touchdowns, and Asaki Mochizuki rushed for two scores and caught a touchdown pass as Obic overwhelmed Meiji Yasuda before a hometown crowd of 2,098 at Akitsu Soccer Stadium in Narashino, Chiba Prefecture. Ryoma Hagiyama caught seven passes for 189 yards, with two of his three touchdown receptions going for 70 and 71 yards. Defensive back Takeshi Miyake returned an interception 21 yards for a score and recovered a fumble as the Obic defense limited the Pirates to 104 yards of offense. Tataeru Nakanishi scampered 45 yards for a touchdown on a 4th-and-1 gamble. The Pirates’ points came when a trick play backfired for Obic in the fourth quarter—as rookie third-string QB Tsubasa Takagi, lining up in the shotgun, pretended to be getting signals from the sideline, the ball was snapped to running back Nakanishi, but it went over his head and into the end zone, where he fell on it for a Pirates’ safety.

Central Division

Lixil Deers 31, Bulls Football Club 0: Naoki Maeda caught a 9-yard touchdown pass and returned a punt 67 yards for a score on the first two series of the game, but Lixil did little else until the fourth quarter in blanking a stubborn Bulls team at Tokyo’s Amino Vital Field. Daisuke Aoki kicked a 26-yard field goal on the final play of the first half, and Shinichi Maekawa and Masaki Ono scored on short touchdown runs in the fourth quarter. Shoya Tomita had three of Lixil’s five sacks. Bulls quarterback Keita Fujiwara completed 21 of 29 passes for 231 yards, but also had minus-46 yards rushing on 14 carries. Shinjiro Kinoshita missed a 46-yard field goal attempt early in the second quarter, and a third-quarter drive that advanced to the Lixil 21 ended with Yoshifumi Watanabe’s interception of a Fujiwara pass.

Asahi Beer Silver Star 65, Hurricanes 0: Mason Mills threw five touchdown passes in the first half, with Roman Wilson and Yuta Hayashi on the receiving end of two each, as Asahi Beer became the latest team to rout the overmatched Hurricanes. Mills completed just 9 of 12 passes, but with the TD tosses to Hayashi going for 65 and 99 yards, finished with 319 yards as the Silver Star piled up 596 yards of offense. Hayashi had 272 yards receiving on six receptions. The defense, which held the Hurricanes to 127 total yards, recorded a safety and a touchdown, with linebacker Reiichi Sato returning a fumble 30 yards for a score. Toshiyuki Takamatsu, Yoshihiro Matsuzaki and Subaru Nakajima all had rushing touchdowns. The Hurricanes, who had given up over 100 points in their first two losses, held the Silver Star scoreless in the third quarter.

IBM BigBlue 42, Tokyo Gas Creators 0: It was a two-fer day, as Kevin Craft threw two touchdown passes to Takashi Kurihara, and Tomokazu Sueyoshi and Ryo Takagi each ran for two scores as IBM rolled past Tokyo Gas at Fujitsu Stadium Kawasaki. IBM, which was penalized 12 times for 101 yards, failed to score on its first two possessions, but then turned two interceptions into touchdowns in the first quarter, the second coming when Takagi broke free on a 46-yard run on the first play. He added a 63-yarder in the second quarter. Craft completed 9 of 15 passes for 181 yards, including an 80-yard TD toss to Kurihara. Yasuhiro Ichiki missed field goal attempts of 32 and 27 yards for the Creators, who also lost a fumble that led to IBM’s final TD, a 35-yard run by Sueyoshi in the fourth quarter.

West Division

As One Black Eagles 21, Nagoya Cyclones 0: Hiroshi Yamagami scored on an 8-yard run in the third quarter and rookie quarterback Ryota Yabe ran for one touchdown and threw for another in the fourth quarter as As One pulled away in a battle of winless teams at Osaka’s Expo Flash Field. Both defenses dominated in a scoreless first half, in which the lone scoring opportunity ended when Yabe fumbled at the Cyclones 18 with :46 left—the first of three As One turnovers. Nagoya lost starting QB Takafumi Yamamoto to injury late in the second quarter, and backup Yohei Sato never found a rhythm, going 2 for 8 for three yards and two interceptions. The first pick eventually led to Yabe’s 15-yard touchdown run. Yabe threw a 30-yard TD pass to Hiroki Shimizu with one minute left in the game.

Elecom Kobe Finies 83, Fuji Xerox J-Stars 0: Keijiro Kasuya threw four touchdown passes and the Elecom defense forced six turnovers and held Fuji Xerox to 71 total yards at Kobe’s Oji Stadium in the Finies’ final tune-up before back-to-back games against powerhouses Asahi Soft Drinks and Panasonic. Inoke Funaki passed for two touchdowns and returned a punt 54 yards for a score, while Toshihiro Shinozaki scored twice on the ground as Elecom amassed 625 yards of offense. Kenji Tsunekane, Masahiro Aso and Takeshi Minamimoto all had three TD receptions. Elecom  struck for 31 points in the first quarter, when it started two drives inside the J-Stars 10-yard line.

Panasonic Impulse 14, Asahi Soft Drinks Challengers 7: Benjamin Dupree ran for two touchdowns to cap long drives in the first half and Panasonic hung on to defeat rival Asahi Soft Drinks at Kobe’s Oji Stadium and take a big step toward regaining the West crown. The Challengers took advantage of a Dupree fumble to make it a one-score game on Yuki Shirakami’s 5-yard run with 2:56 left in the game. Another fumble gave Asahi Soft Drinks the ball back on the Impulse 49 with 2:10 to go, but a big sack by Munekazu Shikama and a holding penalty left the Challengers facing a 4th-and-30, which they failed to convert. Panasonic’s Tetsuo Takata completed 10 of 13 passes for 179 yards, while Tatsuya Tonka had eight catches for 146 yards. On the Impulse’s second scoring drive, Dupree scored from the 20 on a 4th-and-2 gamble.