Frontiers flex muscles, tag Seagulls with largest loss ever

KAWASAKI (Oct. 17)—Unlike his coach, and probably more than a few others, Colby Cameron found nothing surprising about the way the Fujitsu Frontiers manhandled Obic, handing the Seagulls their worst X-League loss ever.

“No, I’m never surprised because I think we just have a great team,” Cameron said after the defending champion Frontiers’ 41-7 rout of the Seagulls at Fujitsu Kawasaki Stadium to win the East Division title with a 5-0 record.

“It’s nothing against Obic, it’s nothing against any team we play. But our job on offense is to score points, and our job on defense is to not let them score points. That’s just a mindset that we have.”

Cameron bounced back from a fumble on the Frontiers’ first series that led to Obic’s lone score to throw for three touchdowns, including an 89-yarder to Sei Kyo, and ran for another as Fujitsu followed up on last season’s semifinal victory over Obic with a one-sided win before a crowd of 2,268.

Cornerback Al-Rilwan Adeyami had two of Fujitsu’s four interceptions, one of which he brought back 86 yards for his first return touchdown in three seasons in Japan, and Atsunobu Kimura had two of six sacks as the Frontiers defense devastated the Obic offense. Trasaun Nixon also had a sack and forced a fumble that was recovered by Junichiro Suzuki, who also had an interception.

“Defensively, our coaches do a really good job, and they stay up late at night game-planning,” Adeyami said. “So credit to them at the top, and credit to our players for putting in the work to prepare with those game plans and do everything that we did.

“And our guys really bought in today, guys were flying around. Even when we missed tackles, you got another guy there. It’s fun to play defense that way.”

Hidetetsu Nishimura kicked a pair of short field goals for Fujitsu, which won its third straight division title and sixth overall by dealing Obic an epic defeat.

Obic, which won an unprecedented four straight titles from 2010 to 2013, finished with a 3-2 record in divisional play for just the second time since the formation of the X-League in 1996. The only other time came the following season in 1997, when the team was still the Recruit Seagulls.

Prior to Saturday’s 34-point defeat, the biggest margin of victory in a Seagulls loss was 14, when they lost 21-7 to Fujitsu in 2007. The 41 points scored by Fujitsu tied for the most-ever given up by Obic, equaling the total scored by the IBM BigBlue in the legendary 42-41 shootout in 2013 won by the Seagulls at their “home” stadium in Narashino. No other team has ever scored 30 or more points against Obic.

The Seagulls trailed 24-7 at halftime, but looked like they would get back into the game on the opening drive of the second half when Shun Sugawara led them to the Fujitsu 20. But the tide suddenly turned when a pass hit off an intended receiver, bounced high in the air and landed in the hands of Adeyami, who caught it in full stride with no one in front of him.

“Defensively, when you get guys doing their job, it’s a beautiful thing,” Adeyami said. “For me to get that interception, somebody else had to do their job. And they did their job very, very well. The ball went in the air, I saw the ball, eyes get big, you catch the ball, and there was nothing but field [ahead of me].”

Obic responded with its longest drive of the game, going 68 yards down to the Fujitsu 11. But an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty set up a 4th-and-24 at the 27, and a hook-and-ladder play involving three receivers gained just 16 yards.

“The first two big drives [of the second half] we could stop, that was huge,” Fujitsu head coach Satoshi Fujita said. “They adjusted very well against our defense, so in the second half it was a little difficult to manage, but it was great.”

Fujitsu, taking over at its own 11, needed just two plays to strike again, with Cameron showing once more how much of an impact player he can be. With Kyo streaking down the right sideline, the former Louisiana Tech star hit him in full stride a step behind a defender, and Kyo took it all the way to put the Frontiers up 38-7.

Cameron completed 18 of 29 passes for 260 yards, but much of his success can be linked to Fujitsu’s ability to also establish a ground game. Gino Gordon rushed for 76 yards on 14 carries, while Cameron scrambled for 30 yards on seven runs.

“It was just one of those things where we took what they gave us,” Gordon said. “I think the whole line did a great job, they’re a really talented bunch and once they come together and do things that need to be done, we’re going to be able to run the ball really well.”

The overcast day didn’t start very well for Cameron, who lost the ball on the fourth play from scrimmage, with defensive end Kevin Jackson recoveringt the Fujitsu 15. Three runs of five yards each, the final one by burly running back Asaki Mochizuki, gave Obic a 7-0 lead.

Cameron responded by engineering a 75-yard, 11-play drive, alternating passes with Gordon runs before connecting with Ryuma Narita on a 12-yard touchdown toss to tie the game.

“Every series means a new series, it can be the seventh interception or fifth fumble, but every series is new and we’re going to try to score,” Cameron said of shaking off the turnover. “I just try to come out there and be strong for the team and let them know that we’re alright. It worked out.”

After holding Obic to a 3-and-out, Cameron had Fujitsu on the march again. He capped a 70-yard drive, which included a 50-yard pass to Kyo, by taking the ball in himself from the 5 after scrambling across the field, stiff-arming one defender and diving into the end zone.

“That’s the hard thing with Colby back there, he makes good decisions and it’s hard to get the ball back from them once they get in control,” Obic defensive end B.J. Beatty said. “But those turnovers, they’ll kill you. They were hitting the plays when they needed to, and that’s what was killing us. We couldn’t stop them when we needed to make a stop. They were just a better team today.”

Fujita’s interception of a Takushiro Hata pass helped set up Cameron’s 4-yard touchdown pass to Kyo for a 21-7 lead early in the second quarter, and a fumble on the next series, recovered by Fujita and returned to the Obic 31, led to a 26-yard Nishimura field goal.

The Seagulls had a chance to cut the gap before halftime when they drove deep into Fujitsu territory. After consecutive sacks pushed Obic back 15 yards, Takeshi Nagao was wide left on a 47-yard field goal attempt.

Although it was the type of win that firmly establishes Fujitsu as the team to beat heading into the second stage and beyond, coach Fujita just sees it as a step forward in the process.

“I’m very glad to win one game, and we have to keep making progress and every week take the same approach, preparation, have practice, making sure of the details,” he said.

—Ken Marantz for the X-League