Panasonic Impulse

Panasonic Impulse
Established1974
Based inKadoma, Osaka
Head coachTadashi Araki
General managerTetsuro Shikata
LeagueX-League
DivisionX1 Super
Colours    Panasonic Blue, Black and Yellow[1]
Japan X Bowl titles7 (1990, 1994-95, 2004, 2007-08, 2015)
Division titles16 (1997, 2000, 2002-07, 2009-13, 2015-18)
Websitehttp://panasonic.co.jp/es/go-go-impulse/
Panasonic Sports
Football Volleyball
(Men's)		 Volleyball
(Women's)
Rugby
union		 American
football		 Baseball
Athletics Kendo

The Panasonic Impulse is an American football team based in Kadoma, Osaka, Japan. The Impulse compete in the X-League, and are a member of the top tier X1 Super division along with Fujitsu Frontiers, Obic Seagulls, IBM Big Blue, Nojima Sagamihara Rise, Elecom Kobe Finies, Tokyo Gas Creators, and All Mitsubishi Lions. The team currently holds 7 Japan X Bowl championship titles along with 4 Rice Bowl Championships.

Team history

  • 1974 Team founded. Team known as the Matsushita Electric Works Impulse
  • 1995 Won first Tokyo Super Bowl title. Also won first Rice Bowl National Championship.
  • 2004 Team celebrates 30th anniversary of founding. Won 2nd Rice Bowl National Championship.
  • 2008 Team name changed to Panasonic Electric Works Impulse. Won 3rd Rice Bowl National Championship.
  • 2011 Team name changed to Panasonic Impulse.
  • 2015 Won 7th Japan X Bowl title and 4th Rice Bowl National Championship.

Seasons

X-League champions (1987–present) Division champions Final stage/semifinals berth Wild card/second stage berth
Season Division Regular season Postseason results Awards Head coaches
Finish Wins Losses Ties
1997 West 1st 5 0 0 Won semi-finals match (Asahi Beer) 26-6
Lost Tokyo Super Bowl XI (Kashima) 12-48 		Kawaguchi
1998 West 2nd 4 1 0 Lost Wild card match (Asahi Beer) 10-26 Kawaguchi
1999 West 3rd 3 2 0 Murakami
2000 West 1st 7 1 0 Won semi-finals match (Fujitsu)
Lost Tokyo Super Bowl XIV (Asahi Soft Drinks) 18-20 		Murakami
2001 West 1st 9 0 0 Won semi-finals match (Recruit) 10-7 OT
Lost Tokyo Super Bowl XV (at Asahi Soft Drinks) 7-14 		Murakami
2002 West 1st 7 1 0 Lost semi-finals match (Fujitsu) 0-7 Murakami
2003 West 1st 8 1 0 Lost semi-finals match (Asahi Beer) 14-21 Murakami
2004 West 1st 10 0 0 Won semi-finals match (Obic) 10-7
Won Japan X Bowl XVIII (Asahi Beer) 15-6
Won 58th Rice Bowl National Championship game (at Ritsumeikan) 26-7 		Murakami
2005 West 1st 8 2 0 Won semi-finals match (Kashima) 3-0
Lost Japan X Bowl XIX (at Obic) 16-25 		Murakami
2006 West 1st 7 1 0 Lost semi-finals match (Kashima) 6-13
2007 West 1st 9 0 0 Won semi-finals match (Obic) 29-26 OT
Won Japan X Bowl XXI (Fujitsu) 33-13
Won 61st Rice Bowl National Championship game (Kwansei Gakuin) 52-38
2008 West 2nd 8 1 0 Won Wild card match (Obic) 49-7
Won semi-finals match (Onward) 44-17
Won Japan X Bowl XXII (Kashima) 28-14
Lost 62nd Rice Bowl National Championship game (Ritsumeikan) 13-17
2009 West 1st 8 0 0 Won 2nd stage match (IBM) 49-7
Won 2nd stage match (Obic) 23-20
Lost final stage match (Kashima) 26-34
2010 West 1st 9 0 0 Won 2nd stage match (Asahi Beer) 24-19
Won 2nd stage match (Fujitsu) 23-6
Won final stage match (IBM) 31-28
Lost Japan X Bowl XXIV (Obic) 16-20
2011 West 1st 8 2 0 Won 2nd stage match (Asahi Beer) 28-10
Lost 2nd stage match (Fujitsu) 10-24
2012 West 1st 7 3 0 Won 2nd stage match (at IBM) 34-17[2]
Lost 2nd stage match (Nojima Sagamihara) 27-28 		Ryohei Imanishi (MVP) Nobuyoshi Araki
2013 West 1st 9 1 0 Won 2nd stage match (at IBM) 55-24[3]
Lost 2nd stage match (Kashima) 45-47
Lost final stage match (at Fujitsu) 13-28 		Tetsuo Takata (MVP)
David Motu (ROY) 		Nobuyoshi Araki
2014 West 2nd 7 1 0 Won 2nd stage match (at Asahi Beer) 65-3[4]
Lost 2nd stage match (Fujitsu) 24-48 		Nobuyoshi Araki
2015 West 1st 7 0 0 Won 2nd stage match (at Asahi Beer) 38-14[5]
Won 2nd stage match (Nojima Sagamihara) 36-0
Won final stage match (Nojima Sagamihara) 45-17[6]
Won Japan X Bowl XXIX (at Fujitsu) 24-21
Won 69th Rice Bowl National Championship game (Ritsumeikan) 22-19[7] 		Tetsuo Takata (MVP) Nobuyoshi Araki
2016 West 1st 8 1 0 Won quarterfinals match (Asahi Beer) 21-14[8]
Lost semi-finals match (at Obic) 6-9 OT[9] 		Nobuyoshi Araki
2017 West 1st 9 0 0 Won quarterfinals match (All Mitsubishi) 20-3
Lost semifinals match (IBM) 24-31 		Benjamin Anderson (MVP) Nobuyoshi Araki
2018 West 1st 8 1 0 Won quarterfinals match (Tokyo Gas) 45-0
Lost semifinals match (IBM) 17-24 		Nobuyoshi Araki
2019 X1 Super 3rd 5 3 0 Won semifinals match (Obic) 24-14
Lost Japan X Bowl XXXIII (at Fujitsu) 26-28 		Nobuyoshi Araki
2020 X1 Super N/A 1 1 0 Lost semifinals tournament match (Obic) 35-34 Nobuyoshi Araki
2021 X1 Super 1st 6 0 0 Won semifinals match (IBM) 38-31
Lost 75th Rice Bowl Championship (Fujitsu) 18-24 		Jaboree Williams (MVP) Nobuyoshi Araki
2022 X1 Super Div. A 1st 7 0 0 Won quarterfinals match (Asahi Soft Drinks) 38-28
Won semifinals match (Obic) 30-10
Lost 76th Rice Bowl Championship (Fujitsu) 21-29 		Jaylon Henderson (ROY) Nobuyoshi Araki
2023 X1 Super Div. A 1st 7 0 1 Won quarterfinals match (Asahi Beer) 27-0
Won semifinals match (IBM) 47-23
Lost 77th Rice Bowl Championship (Fujitsu) 10-16 		Nobuyoshi Araki
Total 191 22 1 (1997–2023, includes only regular season)
34 22 0 (1997–2023, includes only playoffs)
225 44 1 (1997–2023, includes both regular season and playoffs)

Import players

Current import players

Jersey # Name Position Years with team Alma mater Achievements
#80 Dax Raymond TE 2023-present Utah State University
#23 Joshua Cox DB 2019-present Central Michigan University All X-League Team member (2020)
#2 Shay Fields WR 2020-21, 2023-present University of Colorado Boulder
#39 Jaboree Williams LB 2020-present Wake Forest University 2X All X-League Team member (2021-22)
X1 Super MVP (2021)

Japanese-American players

Jersey # Name Position Years with team Alma mater Achievements
#12 Tsubasa Brennan WR 2021-present Nihon University
#10 Les Maruo LB 2023-present University of Texas at San Antonio
#5 Victor Jamal Mitchell RB 2019-present University of Virginia's College at Wise Japan National Team Selection (2020)
3x All X-League Team member (2020-22)
#40 Moses Kaito Wiseman LB 2019-present Nihon University Japan National Team Selection (2020)

Former import players

Name Position Years with the team Alma mater Achievements
Jaylon Henderson QB 2022 Boise State University X-1 Super ROY award (2022)
Alfonso Onunwor WR 2022 Idaho 4x All X-League Super team member (2019-22)
Anthony Lawrence QB 2019–2021 University of San Diego All X-League Team member (2021)
Gabe Ahner OL 2019 University of Louisville
Aaron Ahner DL 2017–2019 University of Louisville
Daniel Wise WR 2019 Colorado State Pueblo
Carlton Jones DE 2015–2019 Alabama State All X-League Team member (2017)
Edmond Davis C 2015–2018 Alabama State 4x All X-League Team member (2015-18)
Benjamin Anderson QB 2017–2018 UAPB MVP award (2017)
Edward Burns CB 2018 Elon
Emory Polley CB 2015–2017 Brown 2x All X-League Team member (2016-17)
Ben Dupree RB 2015–2016 The Citadel All X-League Team member (2015)
Matthew Oh LB 2014 Dartmouth

Notable coaches

Name Role Years with the team Alma mater Achievements
Tim Goins Offensive coordinator & director of international football operations[10][11][12] 2014-2015 UNLV The first American coach in Panasonic Impulse history

Recruited the Impulse’s first full roster of import players

Japan National Champion (2015)

References

  1. ^ "X-League profile, Panasonic Impulse". April 17, 2015. Archived from the original on December 17, 2015. Retrieved December 30, 2015.
  2. ^ Marantz, Ken (November 4, 2012). "Panasonic pounds out 2nd-stage win over IBM". xleague.com. Retrieved March 7, 2016.
  3. ^ Marantz, Ken (November 3, 2013). "Panasonic repeats win over IBM, but in more dominant fashion". xleague.com. Retrieved March 7, 2016.
  4. ^ "Impulse force 9 turnovers, score on 4 of them, in rout of Silver Star". xleague.com. November 9, 2014. Retrieved March 4, 2016.
  5. ^ Marantz, Ken (November 2, 2015). "Panasonic pummels 1st Kanto foe as Dupree, defensive line shine". xleague.com. Retrieved March 4, 2016.
  6. ^ Marantz, Ken (December 1, 2015). "Impulse repeat rout of Rise, earn 1st trip to X bowl in 5 years". xleague.com. Retrieved March 4, 2016.
  7. ^ Marantz, Ken (January 5, 2016). "Impulse hang on in Rice Bowl thriller for 1st national title since 2008". xleague.com. Retrieved February 28, 2016.
  8. ^ "Impulse hold off Silver Star to book berth in semifinals". xleague.com. November 16, 2016. Retrieved November 20, 2016.
  9. ^ "Obic emerges from deluge with OT win, ticket to Japan X Bowl". xleague.com. November 29, 2016. Retrieved November 29, 2016.
  10. ^ "On the gridiron, a world away, American players get one more shot at glory".
  11. ^ "Rise quarterback Kurt Palandech eager to impress in shortened season". 20 November 2020.
  12. ^ "2015 Season Team Preview | NEWS & NOTES | ENGLISH | パナソニック インパルス | Panasonic".