Riptide Slices Up Japan's Samurai Warriors

The best team won. Just ask Japanese coach Shinzo Yamada.

"I want to give credit to the San Diego Riptide for being the better team," said Yamada. "We played good. They played better. They're experienced and they're physical."

It showed as the Riptide wore down the visiting All-Japan Samurai Warriors, 67-32, before 5,035 fans at the ipayOne Center (formerly the San Diego Sports Arena) last Saturday, March 26.

"For a lot of these players, this was the first time they had ever competed in an arena football game," said Yamada.

Actually, this was only the second arenafootball2 exhibition game ever for the Samurai Warriors. Japan lost 36-26 at Louisville a year ago.

"We fought hard," said Yamada. "I'm proud of them."

Yamada had good reason to be proud when offensive specialist Akira Hiyamizu hauled in a 21-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Kotaro Okamura on the opening drive of the game to give the Samurai Warriors an early 7-0 lead. Unfortunately for Hiyamizu, he would leave the game late in the second quarter after tearing his anterior cruciate ligament on a kickoff return.

"They played hard," said Riptide coach Sean Ponder. "I was impressed."

Ponders pigskinners proved to be even more impressive than Japan's, however, by putting up 26 unanswered points of their own.

"This game was a good barometer to see how guys play and what they do well," said Ponder.

Those who played well for the Riptide included quarterback Kevin Feterik.

"We're looking sharp right now," said Feterik, an alumnus of Brigham Young University.

Feterik himself looked sharp in finding offensive specialist Steve Gonzalez for a 17-yard touchdown with 9:23 left in the first quarter to close the gap to 7-6 for the Riptide.

"I think we're on a great pace to hit this season full speed ahead," said Feterik.

Two players hitting the end zone at top speed for San Diego were slot back Anthony Griffin and wide receiver Nakoa McElrath. The Riptide's Griffin scored on a 7-yard run and McElrath on a 53-yard return of a missed field goal to go up 20-7 with 13:09 remaining in the second period.

"I thought we did a great job for our first game," said Feterik.

Both Feterik and Gonzalez continued to show greatness as they got together on yet another touchdown, this time from 20 yards out, to extend the Riptide advantage to 26-7.

"We didn't have a lot of mental mistakes," said Feterik.

The Riptide did make at least one mental mistake. With 3:16 left in the second quarter, offensive specialist Takao Mizuguchi beat the San Diego defense on a 34-yard touchdown reception from Okamura to cut the Riptide edge to 26-13.

Just before halftime, both teams hit paydirt once again. Takamasa Suzuki scored on a 4-yard run for the Riptide and wide receiver Masato Itai also found the end zone for the Samurai Warriors after receiving a 3-yard pass from Okamura. That made it 33-20 in favor of the Riptide heading into the locker room.

"We've only been together as a team for two weeks," said Feterik. "I'm sure we're going to continue to improve."

The Riptide showed improvement after the intermission, outscoring the Samurai Warriors 34-12. Japan's two second half touchdowns came in the fourth quarter during the last 22.9 seconds of the game.

Riptide fullback Rico Curtis added a 3-yard touchdown reception in the third quarter, while McElrath had touchdown catches of 6 and 11 yards in the fourth quarter. Gonzalez and Suzuki also added touchdowns for San Diego in the final period.

The Riptide's Feterik completed 14-of-19 passes for 195 yards and five touchdowns while playing the first half and the fourth quarter. Anthony Buich, the other San Diego quarterback, went 6-of-9 for 50 yards and one touchdown.

Gonzalez finished with a game-high five catches for 81 yards and three touchdowns for San Diego. The Riptide's McElrath also had three touchdowns and five catches for 54 yards.