Asahi Soft Drink Challengers

Asahi Soft Drinks Challengers
Established 1978
Based in Amagasaki, Hyogo
Head coach Takashi Kubo
General manager Shigeru Kaji
Owner(s) Katsuhiko Kishigami
League X-League
Division West
Colors Asahi Blue and White[1]
Mascot(s) Orange Bayarisu boy
Japan X Bowl titles: 2 (2000, 2001)
Division titles 3 (1998-1999, 2008)
Website http://www.challengers-net.com/

The Asahi Soft Drinks Challengers are an American football team located in Amagasaki, Hyogo, Japan. They are a member of the X-League.

Team history

  • 1978 Team founded as a practice team for the Momoyama Gakuin University's football team. Team was nicknamed the 'Silver Tigers due to a majority of the team being fans of the Hanshin Tigers professional baseball team.
  • 1979 Joined the X-League X2 division.
  • 1985 Promoted from X2 to X1.
  • 1989 Team name changed from Silver Tigers to Red Bears.
  • 1993 Sponsorship agreement with Asahi Soft Drinks. Team name changed from Red Bears to Wild Show. Finished the season 5th in the division. Lost X2-X1 replacement game. Demoted to X2 for the following season.
  • 1996 Team promoted from X2 to X1.
  • 1998 Team name changed to Challengers. Advanced to the Final6 Semifinals.
  • 2000 Won first Tokyo Super Bowl and Rice Bowl Championships.
  • 2001 Won second Tokyo Super Bowl championship. Lost to Kwansei Gakuin 30-27 in the Rice Bowl.
  • 2007 Won West division title. Lost to Kashima in the Final6 Semi-finals 7-24.

Seasons

X-League Champions (1987–present) Division Champions Final Stage/Semifinals Berth Wild Card /2nd Stage Berth
Season Division Regular Season Post Season Results Awards Head coaches
Finish Wins Losses Ties
1997 West 6th 1 4 0 Hiroshi Yamazaki
1998 West 1st 5 0 0 Lost Semi-finals match (at Recruit) 16-21 Satoshi Fujita
1999 West 1st 5 0 0 Lost Semi-finals match (Asahi Beer) 15-20 Satoshi Fujita
2000 West 2nd 4 1 0 Won Wild card match (Asahi Beer)
Won Semi-finals match (at Recruit)
Won Tokyo Super Bowl XIV (at Matsushita Electric Works) 20-18
Won 54th Rice Bowl National Championship game (Hosei) 52-13		 Satoshi Fujita
2001 West 2nd 4 1 0 Won Wild card match (Asahi Beer) 24-6
Won Semi-finals match (at Kashima) 21-13
Won Tokyo Super Bowl XV (Matsushita Denko) 14-7
Lost 55th Rice Bowl National Championship game (at Kwansei Gakuin) 27-30		 Satoshi Fujita
2002 West 2nd 4 1 0 Won Wild card match (Kashima) 28-10
Lost Semi-finals match (at Obic) 0-30		 Takeshi Yamakawa
2003 West 2nd 4 1 0 Won Wild card match (Obic) 16-9
Lost Semi-finals match (at Onward) 17-41		 Takeshi Yamakawa
2004 West 2nd 4 1 0 Lost Wild card match (Asahi Beer) 7-10 Masato Takahashi
2005 West 2nd 4 1 0 Lost Wild card match (Asahi Beer) 19-22 Masato Takahashi
2006 West 3rd 3 2 0 Masato Takahashi
2007 West 2nd 5 2 0 Lost Wild card match (Onward) 0-20 Masato Takahashi
2008 West 1st 7 1 0 Lost Semi-finals match (Kashima) 7-24 Yoshito Fujimoto
2009 West 2nd 6 2 0 Won 2nd stage match (Nihon Unisys) 55-13
Lost 2nd stage match (Fujitsu) 21-43		 Yoshito Fujimoto
2010 West 2nd 6 1 0 Won 2nd stage match (Meiji Yasuda) 29-24
Lost 2nd stage match (Kashima) 23-38		 Yoshito Fujimoto
2011 West 2nd 5 2 1 Won 2nd stage match (All Mitsubishi) 24-3
Lost 2nd stage match (Obic) 13-20		 Yoshito Fujimoto
2012 West 2nd 5 2 0 Lost 2nd stage match (at Asahi Beer) 20-26 OT
Lost 2nd stage match (at Obic) 12-29		 Yabe
2013 West 2nd 5 2 0 Lost 2nd stage match (Asahi Beer) 10-34
Lost 2nd stage match (at Obic) 17-44		 Yabe
2014 West 3rd 5 3 0 Lost 2nd stage match (Lixil) 7-23
Lost 2nd stage match (at IBM) 10-37		 Tatsuhide Fukuda
2015 West 2nd 6 2 0 Lost 2nd stage match (at Obic) 9-52
Lost 2nd stage match (IBM) 20-37		 Naoto Matsumoto
2016 West 3rd 3 6 0 Won Wildcard match (All Mitsubishi) 20-6 [2]
Lost Quarterfinals match (at Fujitsu) 6-42
Won Super9/Battle9 classification match (AS ONE) 39-7		 Naoto Matsumoto
2017 West 3rd 4 5 0 Won Super9/Battle9 classification match (AS ONE) 27-7 Takashi Kubo
Total 95 40 1 (1997–2017, includes only regular season)
15 21 0 (1997–2017, includes only playoffs)
110 61 1 (1997–2017, includes both regular season and playoffs)

Head coaches

Coach Years Record
Hiroshi Yamazaki19971-4 (.200)
Satoshi Fujita1998-200125-5 (.833)
Takeshi Yamakawa2002-200314-4 (.778)
Masato Takahashi2004-200716-9 (.640)
Yoshito Fujimoto2008-201127-10-1 (.730)
Yabe2012-201310-8 (.556)
Tatsuhide Fukuda20145-5 (.500)
Naoto Matsumoto2015-201611-11 (.500)
Takashi Kubo2017-present5-5 (.500)

Current import players

Jersey # Name Position Years with the team Alma Mater
#1Robert Earl Johnson IIWR2018-presentMississippi State University
#8Clint FloydLB2017-presentArizona State University
#10Alex Niznak [3]QB2017-presentCentral Michigan University
#41Brandon BerryLB2018-presentState University of New York at Buffalo

Former Import players

Name Position Years with the team Alma Mater Achievements
Donnie KingWR2015-17University of Hawai'i at Manoa
Makani Kema-KaleiwaheaDL2017University of Hawai'i at Manoa
Darwin RogersTE2016Arizona State University
Paul PorrasSS2016Rice University
Albert GriffinDE2015Lindenwood University
Kaniela TuipulotuDT2014University of Hawai'i at Manoa
Siasau MatagieseDT2014University of Hawai'i at Manoa

References

  1. ↑ "X-League profile, Asahi Soft Drinks Challengers". April 17, 2015. Retrieved December 30, 2015.
  2. ↑ Marantz, Ken (November 7, 2016). "Challengers, Finies notch wild-card victories". xleague.com. Retrieved November 29, 2016.
  3. ↑ Kelly, Roger (April 20, 2017). "Alex Niznak signs with Japan's Asahi Challengers". americanfootballinternational.com. Retrieved August 1, 2017.
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