-- Two years later than he had hoped, quarterback Jimmy Laughrea was finally reunited with his best friend from high school, who was also his roommate in college. Now the two of them will get a chance to help the Obic Seagulls regain past glory.
Laughrea joined the Seagulls this season after two years with the Nojima Sagamihara Rise, and now shares the huddle with tight end Holden Huff, with whom he played at Rocklin (Calif.) High School and Boise State University in Idaho.
"I've been waiting to come here the whole time," Laughrea said after a nail-biting 35-34 victory over the Panasonic Impulse on Nov. 21 that put the Seagulls into the X-League championship game.
"I was hoping to get the offer before I went to the Rise, [but Obic] went a different direction. Plan B was to go with the Rise. I did my best there, but things didn't work out. I got an opportunity to come here, finally."
Laughrea, who will turn 28 on Sunday, is the Seagulls' fourth American quarterback since the 2013 season, when they won the last of a then-unprecedented four straight X-League and national titles. Their place at the top had since been usurped by the Fujitsu Frontiers, who built a dynasty that has swept up five of the past six championships, including the last four straight.
Obic will try to keep Fujitsu from winning a record fifth straight when the two clash in the Japan X Bowl on Dec. 15 at Tokyo Dome. The winner will return to that venue on Jan. 3 to face the collegiate champion in the Rice Bowl for the national title.
As Laughrea prepares to try to accomplish what predecessors Jerry Neuheisel (UCLA), Ikaika Woolsey (Hawaii) and Skyler Howard (West Virginia) could not at Obic, he said he never felt that the Seagulls regarded him as a savior.
"We have great players, great coaches," Laughrea said. "They always tell me, it's not just you. Use your players, use the skill players, especially. We have some guys out there. If you look at us on paper, wooooo. I would not want to be a defense going against us, to be honest."
With the pandemic completely eliminating the Pearl Bowl tournament in the spring and delaying the start of the regular season to October, Laughrea has just two games under his belt going into the clash with the Frontiers.
Instead of the usual regular season of seven games leading up to the playoffs, this season the league split the Super 8 -- the top tier of the first division -- into two groups of four, with the group winners advancing directly to the Japan X Bowl. Because the All Mitsubishi Lions opted not to play this season, the Seagulls' group had just three teams, meaning just two games.
Both Obic and Panasonic, last year's losing finalist to Fujitsu, obliterated the overmatched Tokyo Gas Creators, winning 60-0 and 38-0, respectively. That set up the Nov. 21 showdown at Fujitsu Stadium Kawasaki, and while it might not have been the luck of the Irish, the Laughrea-led Seagulls needed a bit of good fortune to pull out the win.
After squandering a 14-point lead and falling behind, Laughrea put the Seagulls ahead for the first time since late in the first half with a 36-yard touchdown pass to Shogo Narita with 4:05 left in the game.
Panasonic, needing just a field goal, drove to the Obic 1-yard line. But with 24 seconds left, tragedy struck when quarterback Anthony Lawrence fumbled and Obic linebacker Keita Naruse recovered at the 2. Laughrea then ran out the clock with two quarterback sneaks.
"It's a good wake-up call to come out with a win with all of those mistakes," said Laughrea, who completed 13 of 27 passes for 237 yards and three touchdowns, but also threw an interception and lost a fumble himself at the Panasonic 1.
Making it to the Japan X Bowl was a bridge too far for the Rise, who have never won a playoff game, much less played for a title, since being founded in 2009 from the remnants of the disbanded Onward Skylarks.
Laughrea, who finished his collegiate career at the University of California-Davis, had stints in Switzerland and the Arena Football League before heeding the call from Huff to give Japan a shot.
In his first year with the Rise, he led the team to a 4-2 record (the league changed its format in 2019) before losing in the quarterfinals to Obic. Last year, they struggled and finished last in the Super 8 at 1-6, but remained in the top tier by beating the Asahi Beer Silver Star in a relegation playoff.
Over his two seasons, Laughrea completed 178 of 337 passes (57.8%) for 2,504 yards, with 18 touchdowns and 11 interceptions, but it was not enough to bring him back for a third.
His life changed when he got the call from Obic that they wanted him try out as a replacement for Howard -- the player he lost out to in a tryout two years before, which led him to join the Rise. Laughrea is convinced that Huff played a major role, although the tight end contends he wasn't that involved.
"When I saw the chance to get him on our team, I was obviously thrilled," said Huff. "I can't do too much, but I told them we had a connection, so that's probably all that I really put in."
Obic head coach Makoto Ohashi, who was the coach when Obic won its four straight titles and returned to the sidelines this season after several years as general manager, said he was impressed by Laughrea's skills and personality.
"First, his throwing is so good and accurate," Ohashi said. "He has a quick delivery, his release is so fast. And especially, his personality. His effort, he is always the one [trying] to improve himself and our team. This personality I like."
Huff said that Laughrea had made a smooth transition.
"Jimmy's a good dude and a good quarterback," he said. "All of the guys are on our team are really welcoming, they know he's a good quarterback and they trust him. So it was an easy transistion. I just wish we had more time to get some practice games in."
For the 1.88-meter, 93-kilogram Laughrea, the cancelation of the spring season due to the pandemic was actually a blessing in disguise. Most teams use the tournament as a way to break in new recruits fresh out of college or their new overseas signings. Laughrea has never seen the sense in it, if for no other reason that it risks needless injuries.
"In the spring season, you aren't running the same plays you're going to run in the fall," he said. "You're not playing all the starters all the time. Especially the top teams don't want to show their hands in the spring.
"I would have talked them out of that the best I could. Because, winning in the spring, what does that mean? As far as I'm concerned, winning the fall is the goal."
Not that he hasn't been personally affected by the pandemic. His girlfriend gave birth to a baby girl in February, but they have been able to travel to the States to show the newborn to his parents.
Still, being stranded in Japan also meant more time to get acquainted with his new teammates.
"Honestly, now that I think about it, it's a blessing," Laughrea said. "We were here this whole time, our offense was meeting in small groups when we could. We were getting film sessions in that maybe other teams weren't. Our group was here this whole time.
"It sucked that I couldn't go home to my family with the baby, but football-wise, I couldn't complain."
One aspect that has met his approval has been the atmosphere on the team compared to his time at the Rise.
"I would say the biggest difference is the open communication, and the ability for me to communicate with the coaches and with the players," he said. "It was a little more difficult with the Rise. Nobody's fault, I'm not pointing fingers or anything, it's just a different situation.
"A lot more players are available to work out with me during the week now, whereas Rise players had more time spent at jobs. It's definitely a different team mentality for sure."
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