Southeastern (9-3, 7-1 SLC) defeated Nicholls (4-8, 4-4 SLC) 38-26 in the River Bell Classic to keep the River Bell trophy in Hammond, America.
The win over their SLC rival proved invaluable, as it helped usher the Lions into the playoffs for the first time since 2022. They’ll be hosting Illinois State this Saturday, Nov. 29.
On Thursday night, the Lions took the lead from Nicholls with a touchdown pass snatched over a Colonel defender’s head by the junior wide receiver Jaylon Domingeaux.
Shortly after, Nicholls responded with a rushing touchdown but was outscored after SLU moved up the scoreboard and ended the first half ahead 31-21.
In the second half, Southeastern’s momentum stalled when Nicholls’ defense forced a fumble that led to a safety, keeping SLU scoreless in the third quarter.
However, the Lions celebrated their triumph after they kept the Colonels from taking the lead with a fourth-quarter touchdown and ended the game by taking a knee in victory formation.
On the ground, the graduate student running back Jaedon Henry led the offense with 93 rushing yards and scored the last touchdown to seal the win for Southeastern.
The dynamic quarterback duo of the juniors, Carson Camp and Kyle Lowe, drove the offense downfield with 153 combined passing yards, with two passing touchdowns by Camp and a rushing touchdown from Lowe.
On defense, the junior defensive back Jakyri Jones led the defense with 10 total tackles in front of last week’s SLC defensive player of the week, the junior linebacker KK Reno, who finished the game with eight total tackles.
“This is such a rivalry; both schools put a lot of emphasis on the game, and you see the passion our players showed out there on the field to win here,” Head Coach Frank Scelfo said.
Scelfo acknowledged the outstanding performance from his offense in the first half but expressed the defensive struggles on the other side of the ball.
“Our offense was clicking by scoring 31 points in the first half, and we can’t get much better than that. Defensively, we did struggle against the run, but we made adjustments that I thought were really good,” Scelfo said.
The Lions fought hard to defeat the Colonels in their annual clash, as both teams played like it was the FCS championship, regardless of their records.
“That’s an outstanding football team (Nicholls), and they’ve been riddled with injuries all year long. For them to play like they did, hats off to Tommy and his staff to get them ready like they were,” Schelfo said.
At noon this Saturday, Nov. 29, SLU will host a playoff game for the first time since the 2022 season. The Lions will face off against the Illinois State Redbirds for the chance to play No. 1 seed North Dakota State, the defending FCS champions. Lions fans can listen live on the Southeastern Radio Sports Network.
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