France: A bad weekend to play at home in the D1 Elite

| American Football | 02/24/2022

As the dust settles on all but one week-two matchup in the French Elite division, the La Courneuve Flash continue to show their dominance and every home team suffers a loss.

Apart from the early dominant performances from La Courneuve, the rest of the league appears to be highly competitive with all other contests being separated by only one score. It is still early in the season, but it appears as though the playoff race will come down to the wire in both Conference A and B.

La Courneuve Flash 40 – Molosses d’Asnières sur Seine 6

The Flash’s week-two matchup was against crosstown rivals, Molosses d’Asnières sur Seine. Molosses had suffered a close defeat at the hands of the now undefeated Les Spartiates d’Amiens in week one but were not so fortunate against the Flash.

La Courneuve scored on their very first play of the game, thanks to a kick-return for a touchdown by former Molossan, Amir Kilani. By the end of the first quarter the score stood at 21-0. It was again the work of the Flash defense that kept the field short for La Courneuve. The game finished 40 – 6 with Flash QB Conor Miller and RB Jason Bofunda combining for only 150 yards, showing what a force the Flash’s defense is.

Catalan Grizzlys 31 – Montpellier Hurricanes 28

Grizzlys RB looking for running room Photo: JoRamon Pix

The Week 2 Game of the Week saw the Montpellier Hurricanes and Catalan Grizzlys battle it out for their first win of the season. And a game of the week it was with both teams putting on a stellar performance.

The Grizzlys came out firing and caught the Hurricanes flat footed  with both QB Jacob Purichia and RB Ozny Adramann putting up big numbers. The Grizzlys went in at half time up 14 – 0.

Determined not to be outdone and suffer a second loss at home, the Hurricanes quickly put together two scoring drives to bring the score even. From this point the game turned into a shootout with frequent changes of possession.

It was the Grizzlys who eventually came out on top 31 – 28 despite two fumbles from Adramann, who redeemed himself finishing the game with 104 yards and two touchdowns.

Other game scores

Thonon Black Panthers 28 – Cougars de Saint Ouen l’Aumône 27 

Thonon Black Panthers RB Photo: Jens Lens

Les Spartiates d’Amiens 20 – Vikings de Villeneuve d’Ascq 13 

Argonauts d’Aix en Provence 26 – Grenoble Centaurs 13 

Stats from week 2

Quarterbacks

  • Michael Pina (Argonauts): 20/29, 330 yards, 4 TD
  • Jacob Purichia (Grizzlys): 26/42, 230 yards, 2 TD
  • Joachim Torrelli (Hurricanes): 20/28, 250 yards, 3 TD

Running backs

  • Jason Bofunda (Flash): 11 carries, 78 yards, 1 TD
  • Ozny Adramann (Grizzlys): 27 carries, 104 yards, 1 TD (2 fumbles)
  • François Stevens (Vikings): 5 carries, 70 yards

Receivers

  1. By Angelo Chaisson (Spartians): 7 receptions, 193 yards, 3 TDs
  2. Idriss Ramky (Grizzlys): 14 receptions, 144 yards, 2 TDs
  3. Pedro Rosa (Argonauts): 6 receptions, 121 yards, 1 TD

Defense

  1. Kamgan Angel (Flash): 5 tackles, 2 sacks
  2. Giovanni Bitodi (Molosses): 5 tackles, 1 sack, 1 forced fumble
  3. Quentin Thery (Vikings): 5 tackles, 1 interception, 1 TD

Daniel Mackenzie is a Press Association graduate who works in journalism and communications in the third sector. Daniel began playing football for the London Warriors and Team Great Britain and has since played across Europe.