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!

Head Cold Friday

Thursday night I had grandiose plans of using my only day off a 13 day stretch to get away from Lyon and do one last sightseeing excursion before flying home to California for the holidays.

I originally wanted to go to Strasbourg in the north of France to see their famous Christmas Market. Unfortunately, the trip to Strasbourg requires an eight hour round trip train ride which is way too much for a one day trip. We have our first Cadet team scrimmage at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday so staying over night would be sketchy given the potential for train delays with a cold front hitting France this weekend.

A second possible destination was Monaco, the small independent principality in the south of France. The weather called for rain in Monaco and, quite frankly, I'd had enough of the rain at our night practices this week.

Thus, I decided to take the two hour train ride to Paris for an always interesting diversion in the French capital. It promised to be cold but not raining. If the weather got to be too much, there were always some of the world's finest art museums in which to find refuge.

I was set.

Until I woke up at about 5:30 a.m. with a very sore throat, both ears aching and my snot producing glands in overdrive.

Trip cancelled.

I spent most of the day in bed with plenty of aspirin and fluids nearby.

Finally, at about 2:00 p.m., I rallied enough to head downtown to do some more Christmas shopping and re-charge my Lyon city transportation pass for the month of December.

Verdun Monument

This monument is located in the Place Carnot where the Lyon Christmas Market, selling throat soothing vin chaud by the way, commemorating the French casualties from the World War I Battle of Verdun that lasted ten long months. 

Current estimates peg the total French and German casualties in this battle at over 976,000!

I was able to find a few more gifts today which was a good thing on this sunny, chilly day.

I had time to do a quick sketch

of St. Francis de Sales Church

Nice Marble Altar Piece

Good Cupola

Not a cloud in the sky

SFR bus touting their new and
improved 4G system

My carrier here in Lyon is indeed SFR, why do I rarely get any coverage from them when I step away from The Villa.

Irritating.

The Bellecour Pathé Theater

I had received a discount pass to see a movie in this theater for only five Euros when I went to the Lyon hockey game a few weeks ago. Today was the perfect day to use it given my physical state.

Now, I only had to see if they had an English language movie playing in VO, i.e., Version Original. VO means that a film will be shown in its original language with French subtitles.

The 5:00 p.m. showing was in VO!

I liked it, Bond at his very best.

After the movie, I felt up to touring Lyon at night.

Stomp those grapes

I could use another vin chaud.

The night lights of Lyon

I can't wait for one of the great cultural events in Lyon each year, the Fête des Lumiéres, next weekend. For four nights, several of Lyon's major buildings will be bathed in colorful lights to say Merci again to the Virgin Mary for saving Lyon from the plague in 1643.

Over 4,000,000 visitors are expected to descend on Lyon for this festival between December 6-9.

I'll see Laurie in only 11 more days

Lyon's Theater

Rue Victor Hugo

Colorful Fountain

King Louis XIV guarding the

Place Bellecour at night

Christmas Tree at the entrance

to the Lyon Christmas Market

I'm surviving.

Barely.