Lions, Demons continue storied football rivalry Saturday

HAMMOND, La. – The Southeastern Louisiana football team heads to Natchitoches in search of its first road win on Saturday, when it faces Southland Conference and in-state rival Northwestern State at 6:30 p.m. in Turpin Stadium.

Both the Lions (1-3, 1-1 Southland) and the host Demons (1-2, 1-0 Southland) are coming off league victories over Lamar. Southeastern rolled past the Cardinals, 49-21, last Saturday in Hammond, while NSU held off LU, 35-28, on Sept. 16 before enjoying a bye week last Saturday.

No opponent has been across the sidelines from SLU more than this week’s foe, as Saturday marks the 61st meeting between the two schools. The Lions have won the last five meetings in the series and has a 31-29 advantage in the highly-competitive all-time series.

Though Southeastern has maintained the advantage in recent years, head coach Ron Roberts knows his team is in for a big challenge versus a NSU squad looking for its first 2-0 start to conference play since 2005.

“It’s always a tough battle when we play Northwestern State and Saturday will be no different,” Roberts said. “We’re going up there to face a very good football team and it will be a challenge for us to get one on the road. It’s another opportunity for us to get better as a football team.”

Southeastern rolled to a season-high 555 yards on offense in the win over Lamar, as sophomore Lorenzo Nunez and freshman Byron Walker shared quarterbacking duties. In the two games Nunez has started this season, the Lions have averaged 534.5 yards and 48.5 points per contest.

Nunez will be engineering an offense that features the Southland’s most prolific rushing attack, as the Lions’ 275.5 yards per game tops the league and ranks 11th in FCS. Senior Eugene Bethea (324 yards, 3 TD), junior Darren Johnson (225-2 TD) and junior Julius Maracalin (208-2 TD) are the top rushers for Southeastern.

“There’s no question that Lorenzo gives our offense a different dimension when he’s out there,” Roberts said. “But our goal is the same in that we want to be physical and run the football. Our offensive line and our backs have done an excellent job thus far this season.”

Roberts believes the NSU defense, which is led by senior Nick Perotti (28 tackles) and junior Obinna Iheoma (4.5 TFL, 3.5 sacks), will provide a big obstacle for his Lion attack.

“It all starts up front for them on defense,” Roberts said. “They have several really good lineman that will have to contend with. They play aggressive on defense and tackle very well in space.”

Southeastern’s defense showed their aggressiveness in the win over Lamar, forcing four turnovers, as seniors Mayori Ellison, Ryan Sigers and Jeff Williams II each recorded interceptions in the victory. While the Lions have shown improvement week-by-week, Roberts is eager to see his defense accelerate their progress.

“We’ve seen flashes of great things from our defense, but that consistency has been missing,” Roberts said. “We’ve cut down on some of our mistakes, but we’re still repeating some way too often. We have the capability of playing dominant defense and we should expect to play that way.”

The Northwestern State offense comes into Saturday’s contest averaging 358.7 yards and 23.0 points per contest. Senior J.D. Almond (598 passing yards, 3 TD) leads the attack, which features a pair of senior wide receivers in Bobby Chan-Chan (13 catches, 189 yards) and Cameron Lazare (13-108). The run game is led by the tandem of senior Chris Jones (214 yards-1 TD) and sophomore Jared West (133-3 TD).

“They are pretty solid all around on offense,” Roberts said. “The biggest difference to me is they are much better on the offensive line. Their quarterback is making plays and they have some very talented players at receiver and running back. We’ll have to be at our best.”

Continued success in the return game could help make the difference for Southeastern. Sophomore Juwan Petit-Frere is the reigning Southland and LSWA Special Teams Player of the Week and ranks second in FCS with 38.0 yards per kickoff return.

The Lions gave up two kickoff return touchdowns in the opener at UL Lafayette, but since then the coverage units have been stellar. Since those two first-quarter returns by the Cajuns, SLU has held opponents to 20.0 yards per kickoff return.

“Juwan has made some huge plays for us in the return game and we’re proud of that entire unit,” Roberts said. “But the biggest thing has been the way we’ve cleaned up our coverage. We’ve made tremendous strides in that area.”

Following Saturday’s contest with the Demons, Southeastern will return home to host Incarnate Word for Homecoming at 4 p.m. next Saturday in Strawberry Stadium. The Lions-Cardinals game will be streamed live by the Southeastern Channel on the Southland Digital Network at www.Southland.org/live. The contest can also be heard on the Southeastern Sports Radio Network (KSLU 90.9 FM, Kajun 107.1 FM, The Highway 104.7 FM, WFPR 1400 AM), online at www.LionSports.net/listenlive and via the TuneIn Radio app.

The Homecoming parade is set to begin at noon and will roll through Friendship Circle. As a result, there will be no parking in Friendship Circle on Saturday and the area will be closed to all vehicles beginning at 9 a.m. on Saturday. Prior to 9 a.m., fans will be allowed to drop off items at their tailgates. Those fans with Friendship Circle parking passes will be allowed to park in Lot B for the Homecoming game.

Southeastern Louisiana (1-3, 1-1 Southland) at Northwestern State (1-2, 1-0 Southland)
Saturday, Sept. 30, 2017 | 6:30 p.m. | Natchitoches, La. | Turpin Stadium (15,971)
Series History: SLU leads, 31-29
Last Meeting: Southeastern Louisiana 34, Northwestern State 24 (9/24/16 – Hammond, La.)
Television: Cox Sports Television / ESPN3* / ESPN College Extra (DirecTV 790)*
Announcers: Lyn Rollins, Stan Humphries, Carley McCord
Radio: Southeastern Sports Radio Network (KSLU 90.9, Kajun 107.1, The Highway 104.7, WFPR 1400)
Announcers: Mark Willoughby, Robbie Rhodes and Allen Waddell
* – Broadcast subject to blackout inside the CST viewing area