HAMMOND – The Southeastern Louisiana University football team renews its second-oldest rivalry in school history on Saturday when it travels to face Sun Belt Conference opponent Louisiana-Monroe in a 6 p.m. at Malone Stadium.
The game can be heard in the Hammond area on KSLU-FM (90.9) and on the internet at www.LionSports.net.
The game between Southeastern (1-2) and ULM (0-2) will be the 47th between the schools with the Lions holding a 30-14-2 advantage. The series, Southeastern's second oldest rivalry behind Northwestern State, began in 1931 and was played on a yearly basis from 1951-85.
Southeastern snapped a three-game losing streak in the series with a 19-17 win in the 1985 homecoming game at Strawberry Stadium after entering the contest with a 0-6 record. From 1973-81, Southeastern claimed eight of nine games including a come-from-behind 50-47 win in the 1981 contest.
In that game under head coach Oscar Lofton, Southeastern trailed 40-21 with 11:34 remaining in the game before rallying behind the passing of quarterback Robbie Mahfouz, who threw three of his five touchdown passes in the final period while Mack Boatner scored the eventual game-winning touchdown on a 1-yard plunge with 1:32 remaining.
Southeastern, which closes out its non-conference slate before opening Southland Conference play on Oct. 9 against Texas State, dropped a 29-28 decision to Lamar last week after the Cardinals scored 21 unanswered points in the second half.
Sophomore quarterback
Brian Young, starting in place of
Tyler Beatty, set career-highs for the Lions with 24 completions and 301 yards.
Kory Theodore caught seven passes for a career-high 164 yards – the sixth-highest total in school history – while
Sam Fairley rushed for 98 yards, nearly posting his second straight 100-yard game.
Mark Newbill registered 11 tackles and recovered a fumble to lead Southeastern while
Clint Coleman and
Curtis Strong each intercepted passes.
Southeastern will see the return of Beatty at quarterback for the first time since getting injured on the final play against Tulane on Sept. 2. The Baylor transfer threw for 202 yards and three touchdowns against the Green Wave.
On the ground, Fairley has paced the Lions with 228 yards and a touchdown while
Zeke Jones has averaged 5.2 yards with four touchdowns on the season.
Simmie Yarborough, who needs eight yards receiving to pass former Lion
Merrick Lanaux for sixth-place in school history, has caught a team-high 17 passes for Southeastern with Theodore following with 12 catches and Texas transfer
Brandon Collins eight.
Newbill and
Tommy Connors lead a defense that ranked No. 6 among FCS schools in sacks and is 13th in rushing defense. Newbill, one of six players on the 2010 roster from the Monroe area, has a team-high 36 tackles for Southeastern is 40 stops shy of passing Wayne Faul (368 tackles) for the most in school history.
Connors is next in tackles with 20 and is one of three players (joining Coleman and
Re'Keem Wilson) with a team-high two interceptions.
ULM, playing its official home opener after dropping games against Arkansas and Arkansas State, is led by former St. James High product Luther Ambrose with 176.5 all-purpose yards.
Ambrose has caught a team-high eight passes with two touchdowns for the Warhawks, who play at Auburn next week.
Redshirt freshman Kolton Browning has completed 26 of 49 passes for 341 yards with three touchdowns and three interceptions for ULM while leading the team in rushing with 108 yards in the first two games. Frank Goodin, the Warhawks' leading rusher in 2009, has been held to 58 yards and a 3.2 yards per carry average in his first two games.
On defense, former Amite High product Jason Edwards leads ULM with 24 tackles with Cameron Blakes and Robert Nelson following with 17 and 16 respectively.
