In the biggest game of the season so far the French D1 Elite league, on a rain-soaked slick field, the Thonon Black Panthers delighted their home crowd by shutting down the vaunted La Courneuve Flash offense and battling to a 17-0 shutout of their arch rivals.
The win offset an opening day 6-5 loss to La Courneuve.
The Black Panthers made a statement on the opening kickoff return as Adel Bafdile turned upfield and raced down the sideline to the Flash 40. Quarterback Jose Tabora Jr, took over, marching his team down to the 13 yard line before delivering a perfect strike to wide receiver Benjamin Lolmède in the end zone to give the home team a 7-0 lead early in the first quarter.
With the field conditions deteriorating in a steady downpour, neither offense could move the ball with any kind of precision and dropped footballs were the order of the day. The Black Panthers got a break with just under four minutes left in the second quarter when defensive back Jumilson Ferreria picked off a badly thrown pass from Flash quarterback Leo Cremades at midfield and returned to to the La Courneuve 33 yard line. From there, Tabora moved his team down to the Flash one yard line and with just over a minute left in the half, punched the ball in himself to boost the lead to 14-0.
The dominance of the Thonon defense in that first half was evident by the fact that the Flash only had 16 yards of total offense while Thonon racked up 105 yards.
The second half saw neither offense able to gain any momentum until the Flash punter turned the ball over on his own 15 yard line late in the third quarter. Although Thonon could not find the end zone as field conditions continued to deteriorate, kicker Adel Bafdile booted a 23 yard field goal early in the fourth period to extend the lead to 17-0.
La Courneuve returned the ensuing kickoff all the way to the Black Panthers 18 yard line with a chance to narrow to the lead. But Thonon defensive back Loic Germain batted away a 4th down pass in the end zone and the home team took over. Then, Tabora Jr, led his team on a brilliant, clock-eating drive. Starting with just under 10 minutes on the clock, he marched them from the 20 down to the Flash 30 yard line, finally turning the ball over on downs with less than a minute remaining. La Courneuve’s offense stalled in the mud and the Black Panthers came way with a 17-0 win. The Thonon dominance showed up in the numbers. The Black Panthers produced 207 yards of offense while La Courneuve could only muster 37 yards total on the day.
With the win, the Black Panthers take over first place in the northern conference.
In other action, the Marseille Blue Stars edged the Grizzlys Catalans 7-6, the Cannes Iron Mask blanked the Nice Dauphins 40-0, the Diables Rouges and Saint-Ouen Cougars battled to a 0-0 tie and the Asnieres Molosses doubled up on the Rouen Leopards 28-14.