France: Passing, rushing leaders stay the same with 2 games to go

| American Football | 05/08/2017

With two games remaining in the 2017 regular season in France the stats continue to tell a story.

The defending champion St. Ouen l’Aumône Cougars have managed to claw their way back up into championship contention behind the play of quarterback De’Auntre Smiley.

The running game of the Thonon Black Panthers is the major reason for their first place position. And the La Courneuve Flash from Paris can score in bunches and have players in the top 5 in each key offensive category.

With the St Ouen l’Aumône Cougars 52 point explosion in the win over La Queue-en-Brie Gladiateurs, the top three teams in the league combined for 121 points in the seventh weekend of play in France. The Thonon Black Panthers, La Courneuve Flash and the Cougars have now distanced themselves from the rest of the league offensively and are averaging almost 40 points a game between them.

Passing

St. Ouen l’Aumône Cougars quarterback De’Auntre Smiley continues to lead his team back to respectability and helped engineer 52 points in the Cougars’ latest win over the La Queue-en-Brie Gladiateurs, completing 17 of 30 passes for 375 yards and five TDs. This brings his total to 2,545 yards passing and a 156.69 QB rating which is by far the best in France. Rouen Leopards QB Connor Reilly remains one of the reasons Rouen is challenging for a playoff berth in their first year in France’s top division. He has thrown for 2,056 yards and a league leading 21 touchdowns. Moses Skillon with his 1,340 yards is in third with his seventh place Bron-Villeurbanne Falcons and Jeremy Duponchelle of the last place La Queue-en-Brie Gladiateurs is in fourth with 1,101 yards. Meanwhile, La Courneuve Flash QB Paul Durand is climbing up the list after completing 13 of 18 passes for 223 yards in the Flash’s 41-0 shutout of the Rouen Leopards.

 

Receiving

With 281 yards and four TDs against the La Queue-en-Brie Gladiateurs, St. Ouen l’Aumône Cougars wide receiver Herve Omgba has jumped to the top of the receiver list after eight games with his 673 yards. Flash receiver Mickaël Doukoure remains in second with 570 yards and seven TDs. His teammate Stéphane Fortes has climbed from fifth to third after his 117 yard performance against the Leopards. Nicolas Cremer has dropped from first to fourth after not playing against the Flash. David Rosette has fallen from third to fifth with 469 yards.

Rushing

Despite missing the Thonon Black Panthers 28-7 win over the Aix-en-Provence Argonautes, Andreas Betza continues to lead the league in rushing with his 1,101 yards, 18 rushing touchdowns and one receiving touchdown. The 2016 rushing leader, Rondell White of the Nice Dauphins added another 125 yards in the win over the Bron-Villeurbanne Falcons to stay in second.  Argonautes quarterback Jimmie Russell is still in third with 639 yards rushing while teammate Cody Acker now sits fourth with 549 yard. Amaud MBouthcha of La Courneuve Flash has moved up into fifth after rushing for 117 yards and three TDs in the Flash’s 41-0 whitewash of  the Rouen Leopards. 

 

 

Roger Kelly is an editor and a writer for AFI. A former PR Director the B.C. Lions of the Canadian Football League for 7 years, he now lives in Sweden writing about and scouting American Football throughout the world.