Yates totals five touchdowns as Raiders top Japan’s Kwansei Gakuin in first Mills Bowl meeting since 1988

By Joe Zochert, Rogue Valley Times

For the past 36 years, it is safe to say how understated and not talked about enough how the Southern Oregon University football team has played a key role in developing football internationally.

On Saturday night at Raider Stadium, the Raiders got a chance to put that attention in focus once again during a 54-24 victory over Kwansei Gakuin University from Nishinomiya, Japan, in the fourth installment between the two programs.

The connection between the Raiders and the Fighters is traced back to the 1980s when Chuck Mills, a SOU Hall of Fame football coach, booked a trip for the Raiders to Japan just like how he took his Utah State and Wake Forest teams a decade earlier before he moved to Ashland.

Mills continued the tradition with the Raiders during his tenure, making a first trip to Japan in 1985 — winning 49-24 — before losing 27-9 in another visit in 1988. In between, Kwansei Gakuin came to Ashland in 1986 as the first Japanese team to play football on US soil, with that game ending in a 21-17 SOU victory.

Before Raiders head coach Berk Brown took the helm of the program, former SOU coach Charlie Hall laid the groundwork to bring the Fighters — who have won six national titles in a row — back to the states to revive this tradition from its long hibernation.

“I’m so appreciative that (coach Hall) brought this back,” said Brown. “He did a lot of the leg work and I just coached in it and organized a lot of things leading up to it. But it was really coach Hall that got things going and I’m so glad he did.”

“When I heard about the game, I did a lot of research on Japan and American football in Japan and coach Mills,” he added. “It shocked me to hear that over 200 colleges are playing football in Japan. That’s a big deal, and this is the best of the best of them.”

Southern Oregon isn’t the only team with special international ties. The Ashland high school football team takes part every few years in game called the Pacific Rim Bowl featuring an all-star team of Japanese football players.

When Kwansei Gakuin arrived at the Southern Oregon campus, there was a special connection between both teams despite the language barrier.

Sports is a universal language that quickly bonded both sides at a joint breakfast on Wednesday and a combined team practice leading up to the game, consisting of 7-on-7 games and 1-on-1 drills.

From that practice, Raiders running back Gunner Yates could see how different the styles that the teams played, with the Fighters emphasizing speed and more movement in the backfield on handoffs and fakes that could cause some neck pain to keep track of at each turn.

“That was unique,” Yates said. “I’ve never seen anything like that. But it was definitely new and it was fun to play against them and practice different styles that we have never seen in offense or defense before. It’s pretty cool.”

“They’re moving a lot of crosses and they’re just so quick and there’s so many movements, it’s definitely new,” he added. 

Even with the differences, similarities were abundant in a game that did not count statistics or add to wins or losses. Both boasted great running backs in Yates for Southern Oregon and Shoei Itami of Kwansei Gakuin.

The counterparts put out great games, with Yates scoring four rushing touchdowns — three in the first quarter — including a 48-yard run that had him juking around defenders.

The sophomore also received a 32-yard TD pass from Brennan Stults in the third quarter to build a 44-24 lead. Yates recorded 14 carries for 145 yards and tallied 50 receiving yards on three catches.

“It was just awesome,” Yates said about finishing spring training on a high note. “Just being able to work. We’ve put it in in the offseason. It finally came into full swing and my O-line just made it so easy.”

Fighters running back Itami finished with 103 rushing yards on 11 attempts and caught his lone reception for 42 yards.

“(Itami) could start for any Frontier team,” Brown said of the Raiders’ NAIA conference. “He is a special player. When he and a guy like Yates get in open space, that’s dangerous for any defense.”

It was also a perfect way for the Raiders to cap the offseason with a spring game against another team, instead of a team scrimmage.

Brown was excited to see his team clash styles with KGU, with great passing, efficient rushes and smart clock management.

Stults threw for three touchdowns for the Raiders on 9-for-10 passing for 122 yards.

Wide receiver Ted Wickman had only two catches in the game but both went for scores, with a 7-yard touchdown in the second quarter and a 23-yard TD reception to close out the final frame.

During the spring game, Brown could see how the competitiveness, passion and effort needed to play football are things easily translatable and that you know it when you see it.

“I think one of the coolest things that I learned is that it doesn’t matter if you’re from Ashland, Oregon, or from Japan. If you’re a football player, you’re a football player,” said Brown. “We all do this because we love it so much.”

“Whether you’re a coach, whether you’re a player, no one on this field tonight was earning a full-ride scholarship,” added the coach. “They do it for the purest reason, which is for the sheer love of the game. And you can just see it on their guy’s face, you can see it on our guy’s face — just relishing the opportunity to play against each other.”

There is hope that it won’t take another 36 years for the two teams to meet again. Brown noted that he hopes to get the fundraising to send a future Raiders team out to Japan to extend coach Mills’ legacy for international football.

Mills, who coached at SOU from 1980-88, is considered the “Father of American Football” in Japan. The Heisman Trophy equivalent there is called the Mills Trophy.

Kwansei Gakuin 7 10 7 0 — 24

Southern Oregon 20 10 14 10 — 54

SOU — Yates 9 run (Batres kick)

SOU — Yates 48 run (kick failed)

KG — Igarashi 8 yard pass from Hoshino (Onishi kick)

SOU — Yates 2 run (Batres kick)

KG — Sawai 1 run (Onishi kick)

KG — FG Onishi 47

SOU — FG Batres 34

SOU — Wickman 7 pass from Stults (Batres kick)

SOU — Yates 8 run (Batres kick)

KG — Hoshino 2 run (Onishi kick)

SOU — Yates 32 pass from Stults (Batres kick)

SOU — Wickman 23 pass from Stults (Batres kick)

SOU — FG Batres 30

Reach reporter Joe Zochert at [email protected]. This story first appeared in the Rogue Valley Times.