Panasonic rallies to stunning win over Fujitsu in Japan X Bowl thriller

TOKYO (Dec. 14)—Fujitsu had the ball, a 21-10 point lead and a little more than five minutes left on the clock. The outcome of the Japan X Bowl seemed pretty much decided.

And just like that, it wasn’t.

Bang, an interception near midfield, Panasonic’s third of the game off a quarterback who threw just three in eight games all season. Bang, next play, veteran Tetsuo Takata found Takuya Tonka over the middle for a 42-yard touchdown pass. Even with a failed 2-point conversion, the Impulse had, in the span of 17 seconds, suddenly made it a one-possession game.

When Panasonic got the ball back just 33 yards from the Fujitsu end zone with 3:28 left, the crowd of 25,408 packed into Tokyo Dome picked up on the tension, the Impulse fans willing a miracle unimagined minutes earlier, their Frontiers counterparts imploring their team to hold on.

On the fifth play, facing 3rd-and-8 at the Fujitsu 15, Takata completed the stunning comeback by throwing a pass over the middle to Taiji Koyama, who bulled over two defenders the final three yards to get over the goal line with 1:11 left. Takata then ran in the 2-point conversion himself to put Panasonic ahead 24-21.

And that would be how this nail-biter would end, giving Panasonic its first X-League crown since 2008 and ending Fujitsu’s reign as a first-time champion after a single season. It also avenged losses to the Frontiers the past two years that ended the Impulse’s seasons.

Asked if he was surprised they pulled off the win, Impulse defensive end David Motu replied: “A little bit, I’m not going to lie, ’cause we were down, what, 21-10?

“But we just kept believing and that’s what it’s all about. And that’s what this team was all about this year. We started from the beginning and we knew what we were going to do, and we knew our goal. And everything worked out.”

The 34-year-old Takata, who has reportedly told teammates this will be his last season, was named the game MVP, no doubt more for his late-game heroics than his modest passing day of 10 for 15 for 117 yards in which he share the quarterbacking duties with Takashi Ohara.

“I finally did something at the end,” Takata said. “It wasn’t [a performance] to be so proud of. This was a victory by everyone. It was a tough game and we never gave up through to the end.”

The victory earned the Impulse a trip back to Tokyo Dome for the Rice Bowl for the national championship on Jan. 3, when they will face college champion Ritsumeikan University. The all-Kansai clash pits Takata against the school he led to back-to-back Rice Bowl victories in 2003-04.

Panasonic, which failed to make the semifinals last year or even win the West Division, did it by having no turnovers on offense and executing a defensive game plan that, while not completely stopping Fujitsu’s prolific passer Colby Cameron outright, at least kept the pressure on and forced him off his game.

The three interceptions all proved costly. The first was returned 32 yards for a touchdown by defensive back Emory Polley to allow Panasonic, which generated little offense in the first half, to go into halftime with the score tied 7-7. Polley timed the pick perfectly at the sideline, then raced ahead before cutting back at the 5 and stepping into the end zone.

“I didn’t know what route they were going to run, but I knew they were trying to stretch the field on the sidelines—two-minute situation, so they’re trying to get out of bounds,” Polley said. “I lined up seven, eight yards off the ball and backed up as the play came. It gives the illusion that he thinks that’s open. But I know all along that if he’s going to run that, I’m jumping on it. Fortunately, it was able to work.”

The second pick, by linebacker Akinobu Soma, came in the Panasonic end zone early in the fourth quarter to spoil what would have been a 90-yard drive. The Frontiers rebounded on their next drive, with Cameron connecting on a 2-yard touchdown pass to Takeshi Akiyama to take a 21-10 lead.

Fujitsu had a chance to put the game away on the next drive when they stopped Panasonic on fourth down at the Impulse 47 with 5:21 left. But on the first play, Cameron overthrew his receiver and linebacker Shogo Matsunaga made the interception, returning it 21 yards to the Fujitsu 42. Panasonic needed something fast, and they got it with Takata’s TD toss to Tonka.

“You can’t force the ball,” Cameron said. “I just got to be a good quarterback, be smarter.”

Cameron, who completed 25 of 42 passes for 322 yards and three touchdowns that were the Frontiers’ lone scores of the game, was as gracious in defeat as he had been in victory all season.

“We knew when you play in a championship, this is what you’re going to get, some crazy game back and forth,” he said. “So it was  fun to be a part of. Obviously you want to win, but you live and you learn.”

Motu and burly Carlton Jones spent much of the night trying to chase down Cameron, and each caught him once for a sack. But the pressure had its effect on the former Louisiana Tech star.

“We had a lot of fresh legs getting into him,” Motu said. “It was just about getting in his face, and that’s what we did today. He was tired, it was all about getting after him. I’m glad we did.”

Both teams were missing their American running backs, with Fujitsu’s Gino Gordon, last year’s game MVP, sidelined with a right leg injury suffered in the semifinal victory over the Obic Seagulls, and Panasonic counterpart Ben Dupree out with a lower body injury.

The rest of the Impulse backfield corps picked up the slack, led by Shun Yokota’s 98 yards on 16 carries. Panasonic gained 168 of its 298 total yards on the ground, mainly by running up the middle behind center Edmond Davis. By contrast, Fujitsu had just 79 rushing yards.

“I talked to the coach early on in the game, and I saw that the D-line, instead of trying to shoot a gap, they were sitting there trying to stalemate,” Davis said. “So we were able to take advantage and get one-on-one blocking. And you get someone on the line back there then the middle will open wider.”

Yokota’s total included an electric 46-yard run to begin a drive that started at the 20 but ended with Yokota being stopped on 4th-and-inches at the Fujitsu 9 with :47 left in the first half. Panasonic, however, got their touchdown anyway with Polley’s pick-six three plays later.

Panasonic went ahead for the first time on Eita Saeki’s 35-yard field goal 5:15 into the third quarter. But the lead didn’t last long, as Cameron engineered a nine-play, 76-yard drive that ended with 1.69-meter wide receiver Junpei Yoshimoto outleaping two defenders in the end zone to haul in a 16-yard touchdown pass for a 14-10 lead.

Fujitsu looked like it would pad the lead on its first drive of the fourth quarter, but it would end with Soma’s interception. Still, the drive featured a play that put the skill and guile of Cameron on full display. On 2nd-and-10 on their own 20, Panasonic jumped off side, but the play continued and, with nothing to lose, Cameron launched a bomb that Teruaki Clark Nakamura hauled in for a 59-yard gain.

The foundation for Panasonic’s winning drive actually came on the kickoff after Tonka’s touchdown reception that closed the gap to 21-16. The Frontiers were penalized for an illegal block, forcing them to start what they had hoped would be a time-killing drive on their own 12.

Panasonic’s defense held firm and Fujitsu was forced to punt from its own end zone. Polley’s 12-yard return gave the Impulse the ball on the Fujitsu 33. After a Yokota run for 1 yard, Takata hit Koyama for a 15-yard gain. Two runs advanced the ball just two yards, but then Takata and Koyama combined on their historic pass.

“We just didn’t finish, point blank,” said Fujitsu defensive end Trasaun Nixon, who had a team-high seven tackles and one of three sacks. “We had the game in the bag and didn’t finish.”

Davis said the Panasonic offense was intent on stepping up after the defense had carried the load for so long. “We knew our defense pretty much held us in. So we knew we had to come up and do our part,” he said. “We knew their defense was going to play our run heavy, so we changed up and went with the pass. And we had a playmaker to catch the ball and get in the end zone.”

Fujitsu had a last chance to tie or perhaps win the game, starting a final drive on the 24 with 1:06 on the clock. But after three incomplete passes, Cameron lost the ball trying to scramble for a first down and Soma—who would have stopped him short anyway—recovered the fumble.

“We’re just very resilient,” Polley said of the Impulse defense. “We came out and didn’t really score, so it was tough. And the fact that we had given up points, that can be demoralizing for a team. But guys just kept fighting, we kept getting pressure, just kept at it. We believed in the system and finally plays started to come for us.”

—Ken Marantz for the X-League