KAWASAKI ¨C Skyler Howard threw two touchdown passes and set up another score to guide the Obic Seagulls to a 21-6 victory over the reigning national champion Fujitsu Frontiers on Sunday at Fujitsu Stadium Kawasaki.
The Seagulls finished the Pearl Bowl Tournament group stage with a 2-0 record and advanced to the semifinals, where they will face the Lixil Deers on June 10.
Howard, a former West Virginia quarterback, hit Taro Mizuno with a 55-yard pass in the third play of the game, setting up a 14-yard scoring run by Taku Ri the following play.
Early in the second quarter, Howard connected with Noriaki Kinoshita with a 53-yard perfect touchdown toss.
¡°It was a great route. I told (Kinoshita) just to win in the route,¡± Howard said. ¡°He is a great wide receiver. He won and scored.¡±
Howard added another scoring pass, a 25-yarder to Takahiro Nozaki, in the second quarter but had none in the second half, which saw no scores from either side.
¡°We were good in the first half, but kind of stalled, slowed down in the second half. We really work on second-half adjustment and make those adjustments next week,¡± Howard said. ¡°It was the opposite last week. We did better in the second half than the first half in the last game. So if we put a complete game together and we have good first half and second half, we¡¯ll be OK.¡±
The Frontiers, who lost quarterback Colby Cameron and running back Gino Gordon to retirement after last season, struggled offensively and failed to score a touchdown.
¡°We have new players this spring and it is significant for us to take a step forward by beating our rival Fujitsu,¡± said the Seagulls¡¯ third-year head coach Naoki Kosho. ¡°Our receivers have adjusted to Howard¡¯s passing. We want to show an even better version of the Seagulls against the Deers.¡±
Asked about the Nihon University violent tackle scandal, Kosho said he told the players to win back fans by showing them a good game.
¡°There might be fans who are coming to watch a football game for the first time,¡± he said. ¡°We want them to love the game. We have a lot of things to say about this issue, but we will let our play speak for itself.¡±
In the other game on Sunday, former Boise State quarterback Jimmy Laughrea threw a 26-yard touchdown pass in his debut in Japan to help the Nojima Sagamihara Rise defeat the Asahi Beer Silver Star 30-10. The Rise take on the IBM BigBlue on June 10 in the other semifinal game.
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