Colonels wrap up spring with exhibition game

Spring time Q&A
March 28, 2018
Locals in good position on baseball diamond
March 28, 2018
Spring time Q&A
March 28, 2018
Locals in good position on baseball diamond
March 28, 2018

At first, it was supposed to be offense versus defense. Then an 11th-hour adjustment changed it to Red vs. White.

That’s OK. At the end of the day, it was still Colonels vs. Colonels with the general idea being that the young men on the field were working toward a common goal – getting better before the 2018 season.


The Colonels held their annual spring football game on Saturday morning at John L. Guidry Stadium and an army of red turned out to watch the split-squad exhibition game.

Coach Tim Rebowe broke his team up into two, separate teams and those squads did battle in a competitive game.

The White Team won the game, defeating Red 26-13, but Rebowe said the true winners of the day were the Colonels, whom he said got better and made strides on the field.


“I think we got a lot accomplished,” Rebowe said. “I was pleased with the effort. I thought we executed well at times … It was a great day. We were excited to be out there competing and I think we saw a lot of really good things out there from our kids.”

Some familiar names played well and showed why the Colonels are going to be one of the teams to beat in the Southland Conference in 2018.

Rising junior quarterback Chase Fourcade had a nice afternoon for the Red Team, completing 10-of-16 passes for 140 yards and a touchdown. The quarterback’s biggest highlight of the game came late in the first quarter when he hit Dai’Jean Dixon on a 67-yard touchdown pass which overcame an early 7-0 hole and tied the game at 7.


The Red Team also got field goals from both Bryce Broussard (21-yarder) and Lorran Fonseca (35 yarder) to round out their scoring on the day.

But while Fourcade and a few other familiar faces did their thing, there were a few unknown names who rose to the occasion for the Colonels and stole the show in the game – namely freshman Kohen Granier.

Granier started for the White Team in the game and was dynamite throughout the game, moving his offense down the field with big chunk plays.


The White Team scored first in the game on an 8-yard strike from Granier to elite receiver Damion Jeanpiere to go up 7-0.

After the Red Team scored 10-straight, the White dominated the rest of the game.

Granier hit Mason Roberts on a 4-yard touchdown pass to go up 14-10 at halftime, then they added a couple field goals to go up 20-13 – a lead which held into the final seconds until Tyler Green intercepted a pass off quarterback Nick Conley and took it to the house, which sent the game to its final margin.


Granier completed 10-of-14 passes for 189 yards and two scores in the game.

The White Team also had Dontrell Taylor (16 carries, 56 yards) in the backfield and Jeanpiere (2 catches, 55 yards) and Roberts (5 catches, 92 yards) streaking down the field to make plays.

Rebowe said he was proud of the way the Colonels competed at all positions, adding that being able to break the teams up was good because it broke the team out of the monotony of the same players going against the same people in the same drills over and over again.


“We changed the format in the middle of the week,” Rebowe said. “We thought we were going to go offense vs. defense but we got a couple guys back healthy so we decided to split the squad up. I think the guys were excited to do that. They’ve been pounding on each other all spring about offense vs. defense so it was good for them to separate the teams a little bit and play it more like a true game. I think we got a lot accomplished doing it that way.

“I thought overall, we tackled well and did some good things on both sides of the ball.”

COLONELS RELEASE 2018 SCHEDULE

While the Colonels battled on the field, their coaching staff released their list of competitors for the upcoming season.


Rebowe announced Nicholls’ schedule this week – a challenging slate which will pit the Colonels on the road against two FBS schools before beginning the nine-game Southland grind.

The Colonels will open up the season with three-straight road games – the opener against Big 12 opponent Kansas on Sept. 1.

The Jayhawks are a major-conference foe, but are a bit anemic in their success – routinely blown out by top-competition. They are far lesser a foe than Georgia, Arkansas and Texas A&M – opponents that the Colonels have competed against in the past few seasons.


After the game with Kansas, Nicholls will stay in-state for the next five weeks.

The Colonels will face Tulane on Sept. 8, then will open Southland Conference play at McNeese the next week.

Nicholls’ home opener is Sept. 22 against Sam Houston and the Colonels are also home the next week against Lamar, before traveling to face Northwestern State on Oct. 6.


After the five-week stay in Louisiana, the Colonels will face Abilene Christian on Oct. 13, then will have their bye.

Out of the bye, Nicholls will finish with three of their final four games at home – including their annual date with Southeastern on Nov. 15 – a Thursday night.

Nicholls


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