The Marseille Blue Stars (3-1) will play host to the Grenoble Centaures (2-2) Sunday March 17 at Stade Delort in Marseille as the French League of American Football approaches the midpoint of the season.
Marseille opened the season with two convincing wins, beating the Aix-en-Provence Argonautes 24-0 and then trouncing the Bron-Villeurbanne Falcons 49-8. However, three weeks ago they were brought down to earth dropping a close 20-18 decision to the Thonon Black Panthers. Blue Stars QB Chase Burton tops the passing yardage charts after leading his team to a 3-1 record and throwing for 992 yards and a league-best 12 TDs in four games. His leading receivers are Rudy Dumar (12 rec/305 yds/4 TDs) and Hadrien Lynda (273 yds/4 TDs). The Blue Stars have rushed for a total of 259 yards in four games.
Grenoble looked solid in their first three games before getting whipped by the Thonon Black Panthers 35-3 two weeks ago. They had dumped the Bron-Villeurbanne Falcons 35-6 and shut out the Argonautes 47-0 but in between dropped a 45-26 loss to the Montpellier Hurricanes. Quarterback Sonny Weishaupt has had a decent start to the season completing 62 of 122 passes for 792 yards and eight touchdowns against only one interception. His favorite target is wide receiver Florian Larose who has 20 catches for 215 yards and five touchdowns. Running back Manu Andre leads all rushers for the Centaures and rushed for 177 yards and three touchdowns in the two games on 33 carries. In last week’s win, Andre did not play while Andreas Betza rushed for 81 yards and two touchdowns. However, Betza has now left the team and signed in Germany with the Berlin Rebels so he has been replaced by Jannis Fiedler, formerly of the Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns. Against the Black Panthers, Fiedler had a total of 22 yards rushing on 11 carries.
Unless Grenoble’s running game can kick into gear, this could be a long afternoon for Weishaupt.
