Spring fling: Victories less important than reps for rookies, backups

The team on its way up, that made it to its first championship game last season, is dealt two one-sided losses. The team on its way down, having made two key additions in a drastic reformation, suddenly storms to a pair of victories.

What can we make of the results of the abbreviated spring season? Not much, according to those involved.

“I think these two games weren’t anything,” said IBM BigBlue tight end John Stanton. “It’s just a chance for the new guys to get their feet wet. It’s so hard to tell. You can take things from here, but as a team, we don’t have all of our guys, we’re not running our offense, we’re running very basic stuff. It doesn’t mean anything for the fall season.”

Giving new players and backups some valuable playing time was a common theme when players and coaches talked about the spring fling, in which teams played two games each. Normally, this is the time for the Pearl Bowl tournament, but it was dropped to allow for the national team to prepare for the upcoming IFAF World Championship.

IBM in particular looked nothing like the team that advanced to the 2014 Japan X Bowl, where it lost to the Fujitsu Frontiers. After an opening game loss to the rejuvenated Asahi Beer Silver Star, the BigBlue fell 24-7 to the Obic Seagulls last Saturday at Fujitsu Kawasaki Stadium.

Star quarterback Kevin Craft, who did not play against Asahi Beer, had a rough day against Obic, completing just 10 of 21 passes for 80 yards with two interceptions, including one on his first pass of the day. But he was unconcerned about an offense that was missing running back Tomokazu Sueyoshi and wide receiver Takashi Kurihara.

“We’re in a tough situation because we have a lot of guys hurt, a lot of guys out,” Kraft said. “But I thought that for what we had, and to keeping it simple in the spring, it wasn’t bad.

You don’t want to lose, but at the same time, we didn’t have game plans really going into either one of these games.”

Head coach Shinzo Yamada said he would have liked to come out with a win, but that wasn’t a priority.

“Basically, this was not a tournament, so we saw it as like a practice game,” he said. “I know the fans are there, but we needed to do what we needed to do. We wanted to see the new guys, how they played.”

Among the rookies who saw action, Yamada was impressed with defensive back Takakazu Saito, out of Hosei University. Saito had two interceptions against Asahi Beer, returning the first one for a touchdown. But against Obic, he was crossed up and fell on one play, leaving Noriaki Kinoshita open to complete a 64-yard touchdown pass.

“Our goal is to become No. 1 and I want to do what I can to contribute to that,” Saito said.

Obic, which needed to stop a late 2-point conversion to beat the Nojima Sagamihara Rise 14-12 in its opening game, spread the playing time among its four quarterbacks, including rookie Sho Takagi out of Keio University. Takagi threw the long TD pass to Kinoshita.

“Every quarterback is a different type,” head coach Makoto Ohashi said. “Some quarterbacks are balanced, some quarterbacks can run, some quarterbacks are passing guys. Everybody has a different talent. That’s why I like to see through the spring and through the summer, who is the starter.”

Obic is also making a transitition with new offensive and defensive coordinators. Ohashi said that in that light, the team had two objectives for the spring games.

“The one goal is that I wanted to watch every player. And…all players joined the games, it’s good. The second goal is we do simple play, with perfect execution. We have to make a foundation (for the fall).”

Fujitsu followed up its opening victory over the All-Mitsubishi Lions—when they were limited to six first-half points in a 20-7 win—by beating the Lixil Deers 29-17 last Sunday. Neither star quarterback Colby Cameron, who is recovering from shoulder surgery, nor Japan X Bowl MVP running back Gino Gordon played in either game, which could account for the low scoring production.

But as with the other teams, it was more important to give game experience to players down the depth chart game. Said defensive back Adeyama Al-Rilwan, who appeared in both games, “I think the tale of any great team is the depth, because injuries can happen at any time. Offensively, defensively and special teams, we have to make sure that once our back-ups come in, that they play like starters.”

For Asahi Beer, the spring was about getting its new American imports acclimated, and early indications are that they are fitting in just fine. Quarterback Mason Mills and wide receiver Roman Wilson, the first-ever Americans on the Silver Star roster, continue to work out the kinks as they raise expectations for a team that last made it to the championship game in 2004 and last won the title in 1999.

Mills completed 19 of 30 passes for 273 yards and three touchdowns, with one interception, as the Silver Star overwhelmed the Rise 31-6 on Sunday for their second win of the spring. Wilson, but caught nine passes for 158 yards.

“It’s really good for us as a team to bond and figure out what we do best,” Mills said. “The second half was a little more smooth for us in the third quarter. We changed around a little what our strategy was, and it paid off.”

Wilson, who had four TD receptions in the win over IBM two weeks ago, had none this time as Mills spread the wealth around, finding three different receivers in the end zone on short passes.

“This game in the first half, you saw me zero in a little on Roman early, and that paid off on some plays, and other plays, I think other guys were open,” Mills said. “So we spoke as a group about our strategy in the second half, and there was a little more diversity as far as who was catching the ball.”

Each team will have to evaluate what they saw in the spring and figure out the best way to apply it in the fall. Still, victories, even in exhibition games, can provide a boost in confidence that can carry over into the fall.

“Football is a hugely mental game,” IBM’s Stanton said. “So all of those things matter. But in the end, this is a good league, and on any given day, the teams in your division should have the potential to beat you, especially the tougher teams. We know where we are at, and we know where we have to go, so we’re not worrying. We just know we have a lot of work to do.”

—Ken Marantz for the X-League