Sasaki, Koutaro

佐々木　コータロー

40-Yard Dash: 5.5 seconds
Bench Press: 65 kg
Jersey Number: 99
2nd Year Student (Grade 11)
He is the kicker for the Bando Spiders. He serves as a direct rival to Musashi, and as Hiruma points out, he has never missed a point-after-touchdown kick. He once even kicked a soft drink can directly into a rubbish bin designated for cans—launching it from a bridge railing (an even more impressive feat, though unfortunate for Kotaro, as the bin was not empty at the time). His kicking ability is demonstrated by his ease in scoring a field goal from 50 yards. It is due to him that the Bando Spiders adopted a kicking-based philosophy, relying on kicks to secure victories. However, his accuracy can also be exploited, as it is easy to predict where his kicks will land, allowing opponents to return them. Furthermore, during the match against Deimon, Koutarou becomes stressed and actually misses a field goal attempt, which could have won the game.
Koutarou's most famous quote is, "That's smart" (Smart daze) (or otherwise "That's not smart," etc.), and he is often seen combing his hair whenever he has time, even during a match. He seems to dislike Akaba Hayato because Hayato keeps talking about music. Koutarou used a time-out solely to explain the history of the Spiders to Deimon. His last name is the same as that of a famous samurai, Sasaki Koujiro, who was a rival of Miyamoto Musashi. He asked Bando's manager, Sawai Juri, who is also his childhood friend, to go out with him three times, but was refused with "Whatever, stop saying stupid things, moron!" although she never actually said "No."
As an interesting piece of trivia, a poll conducted in Japan had Koutarou as the only non-Deimon player to win in a showdown, with him winning the "coolest character" battle against Taki.