Saturday, December 1, 2012

Falcon Cadets' Plateau vs. Servals and Les Gones


Saturday was the first day of competition for our Falcon Cadet (14 to 16 years old) team.

We would host a three-way scrimmage which is called a plateau in France. We would be joined by the Cadet squads from the Clermont Ferrand Servals and the Lyon Les Gones.

Each team would play a half against the other two clubs. There would only be offense and defense today as the kicking game would not be seen today. If a team elected not to go for it on fourth down, the refs would just move the ball 30 yards down field to simulate a punt.

It would be both a fun and an interesting day.

Coaches seemed STRESSED while
checking player licensing paperwork

Falcons Warming Up

Coaches Roland, Kelly and Adrian
were "Ready to Rumble"

Coach Kelly McCoid prepping
her wide receiver crew

Adrian giving his QBs
their final pre-game instructions

QB Warm Up 

Dangerous Person 

Natural Born Assassin

PLAYER! 

Our squad would play against the Servals during the first two quarters while Les Gones sat out the first competition.

 Good Block

 Good block Leroy but . . .

 Stop admiring your work!

Dorian Mayor is . . . 

LOOSE!!!

Good Cut

1 on 1 in the open field

Offensive Line READY!

Remember that our Cadets as well as our Senior "B" and Junior teams, all play Nine Man football. On offense there are no Tackles.

Our premier squad, the Senior "A" team, does play 11 Man football.

Finishing the Run!

Directing Traffic

 Sprinting for the Corner

MADE IT = 6 POINTS!!!

Not good for the Servals

Get your pad level DOWN!!!

Foot Race
#21 in Blue vs. #21 in Bordeaux

Loose Again

 Twisting on the way to Pay Dirt

 Defensive Line Penetration

 Squeezing the play

Very Good Open Field Tackle

Half Time Talk

Servals' Facial Treatment

 Serval Sandwich

Explosive!

Smothering Defense

Wrap Up or . . .

he'll get away from us!

MUCH better arm action

 Nice Socks

Put a move on!

 Another Sprint for the End Zone

Give me a High Five,
I'm about to score a TD

Coach McCoid and her WRs basking
in the afterglow of VICTORY!

We looked very sharp in these first 24 minutes of action coming out ahead by a final score of 26-2. The Servals' two points came on a coast-to-coast interception return of our first two point PAT attempt. 

With fellow Gangstas, Christophe Garel
and Matthieu Fayard

While we sat out during the Servals-Les Gones scrimmage the Sun kept setting and the temperature kept dropping to a reported subfreezing 27ºF/-2.8ºC. Fortunately, it was a cloudless day so we would make to the end of our work day without snow.

Les Gones also dominated the Servals so now it was time for a good, old-fashioned crosstown rivalry game . . .

The Sun was setting and our field supervisor did not turn the lights on until the contest was almost over. Thus the lack of light forced me to put my camera away for most of this battle.

Captains Out

Les Gones' defense was tough early

We got a chance

We completed a pass!!!!!!!!!!

At the end of the first period, we were down 8-0 as Les Gones were controlling the game.
  
See, it even says they are officially
EVIL on their jerseys!

Oh, no, sorry it says Eveil not Evil. By the way, Les Gones #21 is a STUD running back, both tough and fast!

See what I mean

You really shouldn't Horse Collar him

We got back into the game on a long TD run to tie it up at 8-8.

Then it got a bit crazy.

Here is what happened on the last four plays of today's plateau.

Falcons: 24 yard TD run, 14-8 Falcons

Falcons: Successful two point PAT run, 16-8 Falcons

Les Gones: 65 yard TD run, 16-14 Falcons

Les Gones: Successful two point PAT pass, score tied 16-16

Final Score: Gones 16 - Falcons 16

Post game Falcons-Les Gones
Team Picture

Good sportsmanship as friends played friends in this scrimmage. Can you imagine this kind of a photo op after, lets say, the Rio Mesa-Camarillo game?

Me neither.

On Sunday, weather permitting, we are at home again for a Junior (17 to 20 years old) team friendly game against the Lyon Les Gones Junior squad. Temperatures are expected to be below freezing with a 40% chance of our first snow of the Fall.

I truly hope that this is as exciting and competitive as the Cadet contest between these two programs was today.

Now it's time to sit down and watch the Alabama-Georgia SEC title game, promises to be a good one!

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