LIVESTREAM: France – Thonon Black Panthers @Bron-Villeurbanne Falcons, Sunday, March 17, 2p CEST (9a EST)

AFI | American Football | 03/17/2019

Graphic: Igor Lazarevic

The unbeaten (3-0) Thonon Black Panthers hit the road again as they head further south in France to play the last place Bron-Villeurbanne Falcons (0-4) in French Federation of American Football South Division play.

Led by quarterback Clark Evans, the Black Panthers, back-to-back finalists for the French title in 2017 and 2018, have looked solid in the three games they have played. Evans has thrown for 543 yards and eight touchdowns in wins over the Aix-en-Provence Argonautes (51-0), Marseillie Blue Stars (20-18) and Grenoble (35-3). So far his leading receiver has been Leo Sarteel with 140 yards in receptions and three touchdowns. Although Thonon’s running backs racked up 296 yards rushing in the opening game win over the Argonautes, they were held to just 60 against Marseille. They picked that up in the win over Grenoble and now total have a total of 525 for the year with Evans the leading rusher with 262 yards on the year.

The Falcons have suffered four embarrassing losses to open the French Federation of American Football season. First they dropped a 35-6 decision to the Grenoble Centaures and then were whipped by the Marseilles Blue Stars 49-8. They looked much better in losses to the Montpellier Hurricanes (21-14) and Aix-en-Provence Argonautes (21-6) but still are winless.

Quarterback Arthur Penet has thrown for 417 yards and two touchdowns in four games on 41 of 98 passing. He has also thrown eight interceptions. The Falcons leading rusher has been running back Rodrique Sama who has 210 yards rushing and two touchdowns on 78 carries.

This will be a long day for the Falcons.