The Alumni Association celebrated the return of football with its first “Huddle Session” of the season.

The event took place Thursday night at Le Fleur De Lis restaurant in Ponchatoula. Guests were treated to free catering and drinks as well as a number of speakers including President John L. Crain, Mayor of Ponchatoula Robert Zabbia and head football coach Mike Lucas.

According to Julie Perise, assistant director of the Alumni Association, the huddle sessions are a way for Coach Lucas to make a connection to the community and bring the athletics program to the public.

“Coach Lucas uses the huddle sessions to talk about the upcoming game, the team and what’s going on with the team to keep the public informed about what’s going on during the football season.”

According to Alumni Association President Gayle Neal, huddle sessions are usually held before every home game. However, Neal stated that this session was the idea of Southeastern alum Judge James Kuhn who suggested the event be held in Ponchatoula before the Tulane game on Sept. 3. Additionally, Neal stated that there was a desire to recognize players on the football team who were from Ponchatoula.

“Ponchatoula is such an important part of Southeastern and a good partner for us,” said Neal when asked why the decision was made to hold a session in Ponchatoula. “The fact that we have those local players, I think Judge Kuhn wanted to promote it.”

Neal began the session by speaking on the relationship between Southeastern and Ponchatoula. He then introduced Zabbia who presented the Alumni Association with a framed proclamation that declared Sept. 1 through Sept. 7 Green and Gold week in Ponchatoula in honor of Southeastern football. The proclamation was received by Crain, who thanked the city for its support.

“We have a great relationship with the city and so many great friends that support us here,” Crain said after accepting the proclamation. “Thank you for this clear demonstration of the support we have between Lions Athletic football and Ponchatoula.”

The main speaker at the event was Coach Lucas who began his speech by introducing Michael Chaney, Jonathan Kinchen, Kaleb Muse and Mark Traylor, four players who are natives of Ponchatoula. Lucas told the audience members what to expect from each player this season.

Lucas then spoke about the goals of the football program, which include building up the character of the players.

“Our guys can tell you that we’ve been working on. All those key words like maturity, taking responsibility for your actions, using proper language, telling the truth in all situations,” Lucas told the audience. “Things like that that we talk about with our players, things that we’re basing the foundation of our program off of.”

Lucas went on to talk about the roster for this season and players to watch for on both offense and defense. On offense, he stated that the team had the third best group of returning wide receivers according to sportsnetwork.com. On defense, Lucas emphasized the importance of keeping fresh legs on the field in order to pressure opponents