France: Blue Stars, Grizzlys lopsided winners, Toulouse-Aix Argonautes battle to a tie

The French D1 Elite Championship league passed the midpoint of the season this past weekend and the favorites in Conference B did exactly as expected.

Two of the three games in the six-team conference were landslide victories while the third proved to be a stalemate-shootout for third place in the league standings.

Marseille Blue Stars 55 – Montpellier MFA Hurricanes 6

The first game of the weekend in Conference B saw the best and worst teams face each other.

As expected, the Montpellier Hurricanes were unable to put up much resistance at all. French quarterback Loic Bousksou completed just eight passes for 42 yards while the Blue Stars elite defense harried him into five sacks and three interceptions. 

For Marseille, quarterback Kaleb Scott continued his reign of terror on opposing defenses. Despite being taken out in the third quarter, Scott was able to throw for 249 yards and five touchdowns.

Catalans Grizzlys 36 – Grenoble Centaures 7 

Game two in France was equally as lopsided as the first as the number two seeded Grizzlys continued to chase the Blue Stars for the number one spot.

The Grizzlys leaned heavily on the arm of quarterback Jacob Purichia who, despite a slow start, was able to end the game with 300 yards and four touchdowns. This slow start never threatened the Grizzlys position however, as they looked in complete control the entire game. 

The Centaures were able to put a couple of drives together as Loic Caruso threw for 117 yards and a touchdown. But this all counted for nout as the drives consistently stalled and the single scoring drive came in the dying seconds of the game.

Toulouse Ours 41 – Aix Argonauts 41

For those disappointed by the level of competition in the first two games of the weekend, the final made up for it and then some. From start to finish this mid-standings shootout was a thriller for fans on either side of the ball. 

A slow starting season for the Toulouse Ours culminated in this week 6 matchup as each team presented what they are capable of.

For the Argonauts, this may not have been the result they wanted after early success, but it too showed that the team can put up big numbers at the highest level of competition in France.

Both quarterbacks played arguably their best game of the season with each throwing four touchdown passes, but more importantly, stepping up when it mattered; clearly showing the winning intent of both sides.

It was Argonauts quarterback Micahel Pina who had the more impressive statline however, throwing for over 400 yards and two rushing touchdowns bringing his final touchdown tally to six.

It was also Pina’s fourth quarter charge that brought the score even after the Ours led going into the final minutes of the game.

Despite an uncomfortable and often awkward 1 in the tie column, each team has put the rest of Conference B oon notice that they can and will compete until the final game of the season.