While Nicholls State nearly shocked the world with a near upset of the Southeastern Conference’s Georgia Bulldogs last Saturday — and perhaps did so regardless of the Colonels ultimate 26-24 loss — perhaps football fans in St. Charles Parish were less surprised. They already know Tim Rebowe is something special.
The former Destrehan High School coach and Norco native has been at the helm of Nicholls since his hiring in 2015, tasked with rebuilding program. After a 3-8 season in his first year as the team’s head coach, he is on his way to doing exactly that, if Saturday’s season opener is any indication at all.
“We thought we could play with them,” Rebowe said. “At halftime, it kinda reaffirmed that we could. We were so close at the end. Those guys know we can play and they wanted to win, not just play them close.”
Rebowe led Destrehan to the 1993 State Championship game. During his tenure with the Wildcats, which spanned 1992-1994, he coached players like Ed Reed and Rondell Mealey. Since then he has worked at the college level: he was an assistant coach at Nicholls State, Louisiana-Monroe and Louisiana=Lafayette before returning to Nicholls last year.
On Saturday, his team had a tall task in front of it, opening its season on the road in front of nearly 93,000 fans at No. 9 ranked Georgia.
And yet, there they were, leading 14-13 in the third quarter over that nationally-ranked team. Georgia powered ahead 26-14, but Nicholls scored 10 straight points to close within two with 3:42 left to play, Chase Fourcade’s 6-yard touchdown pass to C.J. Bates giving Nicholls the potential chance to win with a field goal. But Georgia was able to seal the win with a pair of first downs.
It was the first start in the career of Fourcade, a freshman alum of Rummel.
“He got throw into the fight against a very good defense and good SEC team,” Rebowe said of Fourcade. “He’s every bit the leader we thought he was. He threw a couple picks but came back, threw the ball well and ran the offense well for us.”
Rebowe’s River Parish roots were displayed through a number of the game’s playmakers that hailed from this region. East St. John alumnus Ahmani Martin recovered a fumble in Georgia territory. St. Charles Catholic alumnus Jeff Hall intercepted a pass and made a 91-yard return to set up his team at the Georgia 7.
While the Georgia game has to be considered a major moral victory for Rebowe and his team, a strong follow-up performance will be critical. Nicholls State travels to play South Alabama (1-1) at 6 p.m. in Southland Conference action.
“(The South Alabama game) is a conference game,” It’s bigger than this game was (against Georgia),” Rebowe said. “Our guys realize that. They know this game has no bearing on next week’s game at all. We gotta come out, prepare ourselves and if we do that, we’ll be ok.”
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