HAMMOND – The Southeastern Louisiana University football team looks to end the 2011 season on a positive note on Thursday when it hosts arch-rival Nicholls State in the annual River Bell Classic at Strawberry Stadium.

Kickoff is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. The game can be heard in the Hammond area on KSLU-FM (90.9) and on the internet at www.LionSports.net. The game will also be televised live on Cox Sports Television and will be streamed live and for free on SLC NOW on conference's website, Southland.org.

Coverage is also accessible via ESPN3 at WatchESPN.com and on the WatchESPN application for iPhone, iPad and Android users. SLC NOW and ESPN3 may be subject to territorial restrictions and blacked out in CST's coverage area.

The game will re-air nationally on Fox College Sports Atlantic on Friday at 3 p.m.

Before the game, Southeastern (2-8, 0-6 Southland) will honor its 12-man senior class that includes Devin Boutwell, Brandon Collins, Avery Crooks, Antoine Duplessis, David Durden, Sean Gremillion, Keiron Jones, Troy Metcalfe, Josh Penton, Kory Theodore and Simmie Yarborough.

Yarborough, from Brookhaven, Miss., will close out a collegiate career that includes a Southeastern and Southland Conference career record 226 receptions with added school-records in receiving yardage (2,713 yards) and touchdowns (30). Yarborough, the 2008 Freshman of the Year by the Southland Conference and Louisiana Sports Writers Association, has caught a pass in all 41 games that he has played since arriving on campus.

This season, Yarborough has posted team highs with 58 receptions and 711 yards, ranking third in the Southland Conference in both categories.

Collins (57-701, 5 TDs), a Texas transfer, and Theodore (52-681, 4 TDs) join Yarborough to form one of the top receiving trios in the Football Championship Subdivision ranking second in the Southland Conference in passing offense and 11th overall.

Brian Young has thrown for 2,628 yards on the season in his first year as a full-time starter while Sam Fairley (396 yards) , LaTruan Weary (227) and Zeke Jones (226) have paced the Lions on the ground.

Defensively, freshman Tyler Stoddard and Tay Alford have posted a team-high 79 tackles each for Southeastern, followed by Ricky Irvin (77), Keiron Jones (54) and Crooks (52). Robert Alford has recorded a team-high four interceptions on the season for Southeastern while Devan Walker has recorded a team-high 13 tackles for loss.

Redshirt freshman Jordan Wells looks to set an NCAA FCS single-season record in kickoff returns after already establishing new Southeastern and Southland Conference marks. The Round Rock, Texas native leads the nation with 1,383 yards in returns and is 28 yards shy of tying the previous NCAA mark of 1,411 set by David Primus of Samford in 1989.

Nicholls State (1-9, 0-6 Southland) enters the game having won the last four meetings in the series, including a 27-25 victory last season in Thibodaux. The Colonels lead the all-time series against Southeastern, 12-8, and have won 10 of the last 11 meetings dating back to 1981.

Quarterback LaQuintin Caston rushed for a career-high 177 yards while throwing for a season-high 214 in last week's 34-26 setback against Lamar. The Colonels trailed, 21-19, after three quarters before a pair of Lamar touchdowns put the game away.

Caston leads Nicholls State with 613 yards rushing and five TDs while completing 81 of 159 passes for 695 yards and eight TDs.

Marcus Washington (23-170), who is the second leading rusher for Nicholls State with 523 yards, and Kenyad Blair (22-219) are the top receivers for the Colonels. Nick Scelfo (14-172), Jesse Turner (12-103) and Joshua Warren (10-116) are the other top receivers for Nicholls State.

Jordan Piper leads the Colonels with 71 tackles followed by Siegan Vergenal (59 tackles) and Bobby Felder (47). Felder, who leads the Colonels in punt returns, has picked off a team-high five passes on the season while Chika Madu has averaged 24.1 yards per kickoff return with a pair of touchdowns.

ABOUT THE RIVER BELL
Separated by the Mississippi River and a mere 94 miles apart, no two football-playing schools in the Southland Conference are as close as Southeastern and Nicholls State.

And the annual game played between the rivals is for the Riverbell.

The rivalry game, which began in 1972 and was conceived by the Phi Chapter Alumni Association of Sigma Tau Gamma fraternity at Southeastern, presents to the winner a trophy bearing the riverbell and detailing the yearly victors. 

The series, which was played yearly until 1985 when Southeastern dropped the program, was resumed 20 years later with the trophy making its return to Strawberry Stadium.

After a pair of Colonel victories in the renewal of the series that started in 2005, Southeastern claimed the trophy for the first time since 1980 with a 17-13 victory in the 2007 season-finale.

Nicholls State claimed a 27-25 victory in last year's contest in Thibodaux.