Junior Team Plays a Friendly Game

If it is a Saturday in November, it must be time for . . .

Football Americain in France

The roots of the

Bron-Villeurbanne Falcons

These two stickers hang proudly in the Falcons' headquarters and tell of the team's history.

The original American football team in Bron was known as the 69ers.

The country of France is divided into a series of 95 governmental departments. There are also another set of departments located in different parts of the world still under the control of the French such as Martinique. Each of these departments is designated by a number and Bron is in the 69th department, hence the old nickname.

Villeurbanne's old squad was nicknamed the Samouraïs because . . .

Beats me.

Today our Junior team, ages 18-21, boarded a recliner bus for the two hour drive to the city of Clermont-Ferrand to play the Servals at 4:00 p.m. in what is known in Europe as a friendly game. Basically this is considered a non-league game/scrimmage to get the kinks out before playing a real game.

We were quite kinky in a good way as it turned out.

Rookie Hazing

A tradition in Europe is to haze the rookies before the first contest. Nothing physical or dangerous, just some good natured body art for our 15 rookies on the drive to the game.

The ride to the game was fun for me because our Junior Head Coach's wife, Nath Caldes, decided to give me a lesson in the French language on the bus. She was TRES MAGNIFIQUE!

MERCI NATH!!!

The Game Field

This is a huge sports complex that even includes a baseball field. It was very windy at game time.

Here come the

fashionably shod Falcons

The Opening Kickoff

Our defense opened with a three and out and gave the ball to the offense in good field position.

A good drive by the Bordeaux and Silver ended with a 30 yard field goal to take an early 3-0 lead.

It must be noted that in Nine-Man football you can not rush the QB with more than four players. If a team employs a three down lineman front like both teams did today, a blitzing linebacker must raise his hand before the snap to declare his blitz to the offensive team.

Different.

In the Second Quarter, the Servals scored twice on short runs to take a 12-3 lead at the intermission.

Man Coverage

We played much better in the Second Half.

No one scored in the Third Quarter.

In the final stanza, the Falcons "scored" on a 45 yard reverse play but were flagged for excessive celebration when the ball carrier started to wave the ball at the five yard line. Since this is a spot of the foul penalty, the TD was negated. We would not score on this drive . . . devastating.

Late in the game we would surmount another good offensive drive and finish it with a two yard QB Sneak/Wedge play for a TD. A bad snap on the PAT kept us from scoring again and led to a final score of 12-9 in favor of Clermont-Ferrand.

It was a learning experience to be sure, we are going to be a good football team.

Reading Is FUNdamental

A must read if you want to begin to understand the French culture and its wonderful people. It really has helped me keep my social mistakes to a minimum.

I think.

On Sunday afternoon at home, our featured Falcon Senior team (1-0) plays against the visiting Chambéry Aigles (0-1). It should be a good one!