River Bell Classic a true classic in 2019

When two area teams are both playing at a high level, enthusiasm will take over.

That was the case Thursday night at Strawberry Stadium.

The second biggest crowd ever for a game at the facility was on hand in sellout fashion for a game that meant everything for Nicholls and Southeastern Louisiana.

The game lived up to expectations and then some.

Nicholls captured the Southland Conference title for a second straight year and earned its third straight NCAA FCS Playoff berth with a thrilling 28-27 victory over the Lions Thursday night.

It was a wild game of wild momentum swings.

It looked like the Lions would roar past the Colonels initially as Southeastern dominated the first quarter, keeping the ball for most of the period, piling up yards, even having a touchdown called back and taking a 14-0 lead.

The game changed in the second quarter as Nicholls adjusted defensively and got its offense going, matching the 14 points of Southeastern to tie the game by halftime.

Nicholls kept that momentum in the third quarter to take a 21-14 lead before the wild fourth quarter arrived.

Devonte Williams, who was easily the fastest player on the field, tied the game with a touchdown before Dominic Lamm of Holy Cross picked off his fellow Catholic League combatant, Chase Fourcade of Rummel.

That set up a Chason Virgil to Austin Mitchell touchdown pass to give SLU a 27-21 lead but the all important extra point was missed, a critical play in the game.

Undaunted, Fourcade, a senior and the best quarterback in school history, guided the Colonels to what turned out to be the winning score on his third touchdown pass of the game, all to Dai’Jean Dixon of Karr. Dixon finished with nine catches for 190 yards and the three scores.

Then, a squib kick by Nicholls backfired, giving Southeastern great field position at its own 44-yard line. The Lions moved the ball and benefited from a pair of big penalties against Nicholls to reach the one-yard line, poised to win.

Unfortunately for SLU, Cole Kelley made a mistake on an effort play. Kelley attempted to stretch the ball toward the goal line when stopped at the 1-yard line. In the process, the ball was knocked out while Kelley was not down, laying on other players. Sully Laiche of Lutcher recovered and Nicholls had an exhilarating win while Southeastern suffered a debilitating loss.

Some questioned the use of Kelley over Virgil in that situation but it is what Southeastern has done all year and done successfully.

Additionally, the fact that the Lions had missed an extra point meant that there was no guarantee of a chip-shot field goal being a “gimme” if Southeastern did not score.

It is the kind of game that will raise the stakes for years to come in this rivalry.

South Louisiana natives Tim Rebowe and Frank Scelfo have done marvelous jobs at their respective schools.

They have done it by hiring very good staffs, recruiting good players and relying on the bevy of good players from South Louisiana.

Both coaches have hit our part of the state hard and the benefits are obvious.

Fourcade and Laiche have been the pillars of the building job Rebowe has done at Nicholls. Scelfo is laying the same foundation now at Southeastern.

Here is hoping the Lions get a bid to the FCS playoffs. They are an exciting team with good skill that can make noise. They have a great future. The Colonels are already there and they won a playoff game a year ago and hope to build on that this year.

For now, the ride back to Thibodaux with the River Bell Trophy was a wonderful journey for the Colonels.

A great rivalry is alive and well again, thanks to a classic game.