The Panasonic Impulse were pushed hard but managed to skate past the Sekisui Challengers beating them 14-13 this past weekend in the second round of the X1 Super WEST Division at the Expo Memorial Stadium in Suita City, Osaka Prefecture. With the win, their second straight to open the season, the Impulse stay undefeated.
It was the Challengers who struck first though as quarterback Garrett Saffron marched his team down to the Panasonic 30 yard line and then hit wide receiver Tsutomu Kameyama racing down the sideline for the game’s opening score.
Sekisui Challengers WR Jeremiah “Boogie” Knight (left) caught a TD pass ©X LEAGUE
However, early in the second quarter, Panasonic blocked a Challengers punt and Shintaro Saeki scooped it up and returned it all the way to tie the game at 7-7.
The Impulse drove into Sekisui territory to open the second half as running back Genaki Tachikawa broke for a 30-yard gain. After advancing to the Challengers’ seven yard line, rookie wide receiver Takayo Suzuki managed to evade the coverage in the back of the end zone and hauled in a pass from Araki to give Panasonic a 14-7 lead.
Sekisui had a chance to even the score and possibly take the lead early in the fourth. On a fourth and goal from the 10 yard line, Saffron connected with wide receiver Jeremiah “Boogie” Knight but the extra point attempt failed leaving the score 14-13 in favor of the Impulse.
With the win, Panasonic improve to 2-0 while the Challengers are now 0-1. Next up for the Impulse are the Elecom Kobe Finies on September 29 while Sekisui take on the Pleiades Fukuoka Suns, also on September 29.