St Ouen l’Aumône Cougars stay unbeaten in France, down La Courneuve Flash
The 3-0 St Ouen l’Aumône Cougars preserved their undefeated record in handing the defending champions La Courneuve Flash their second loss of the young FFFA – Fédération Française de Football Américain – season, beating them 30-20 Saturday in Saint-Ouen.
Cougars quarterback Jonathan Baker completed 17 of 26 passes for 200 yards and two touchdowns but was sacked four times. Isaac Amoako was outstanding rushing for 59 yards and one touchdown while catching four passes for 51 yards and another score. He also scored on a two-point conversion. Brandon Crawford also scored a touchdown on a one yard run and Patrick Botela hauled in an 11 yard touchdown pass from Baker for the game’s final score.
The Flash were led by Nicolas Khandar and Jason Aguemon who scored a rushing touchdown apiece and Sofiane Mahmoudi who scored on an 88 yard kick off return.
This was a game of two halves with the lead changing hands three times in the first half.
Khandar gave La Courneuve a 7-0 lead early in the first quarter but Baker settled his team down, connecting with Amoako on a 19 yard touchdown pass to pull the Cougars even at 7-7.
Aguemon regained the lead for the Flash on a three yard plunge making it 14-7. Then the Cougars defense rose up, forcing a two-point safety and pulling St.-Ouen closer 14-9. On the next Cougars possession, Amoako capped a field-long drive, finding a seam from four yards out to score the go-ahead touchdown and then also the two point conversion, giving St. Ouen the lead for the first time 17-14.
Mahmoudi restored the lead for the Flash on the kickoff with an electrifying 88 yard return and La Courneuve went ahead 20-17 to end an incredible first quarter of play.
As the rain intensified, the scoring slowed down with Crawford retaking the lead for the Cougars carrying the ball in from the one yard line late in the second quarter and St. Ouen held a 24-20 lead at the break.
The Flash could get no closer in the second half as the Cougars defensive front seven played ferocious football the rest of the way. Flash quarterback Paul Durand was forced out of the game at halftime with a suspected head injury and the offense sputtered after that.
Baker found Botela in the fourth quarter for an 11 yard touchdown to account for all of the second half scoring.
With the win, the Cougars stay atop of the French standings at 3-0 followed by the surprising newcomers, the Marseilles Blue Stars, who are also undefeated. St. Ouen leads the league thanks to an offense which has scored 116 points in three games (38.6 points/game) while the Blue Stars have averaged 24.3 points per game.
Photos: Patrick Vielcanet and Nicolas Robert
