The year was 2000.

For the second time in three years, the Riverside Academy Rebels were leaving the Superdome with a heavy heart. They had just played in the final game of the year, the biggest game of the year — the Class 2A state championship game — and lost, this time to Ouachita Christian, 28-14.

The very next day, however, Coach Bill Stubbs would walk out of the Superdome a happy man after his Salmen Spartans defeated the John Curtis Patriots 7-0 to win the Class 4A title.

So call it kismet or fate or coincidence or just pure luck that, this year, the Rebels and the Coach are going to walk into the Superdome together this season.

Four years after giving up his life in private business to return to coaching, Stubbs has led Riverside back to the finals. The Rebels (11-1), the No. 1 seed in the Division III select schools bracket, will play No. 3 seed Notre Dame (13-0) for the state championship at 1:30 p.m. Friday in New Orleans.

Riverside has never won a Louisiana High School Athletic Association title but finished as state runner-up three times, in 1993, 1998 and 2000. The Rebels did win eight titles in the defunct Louisiana Independent Schools Association in the 1970s and 1980s.

Stubbs, meanwhile, won three state championships as coach of the Spartans. His task this week is not only to get the Rebels prepared for Notre Dame, but also to get his players prepared to play in the mammoth Superdome, which in itself has bested more than one team over the years with its bright lights and artificial turf.

“It is an issue you have to deal with,” Stubbs said. “The walk-through on Thursday will pretty much get the job done. You just do the best you can do. Once the ball is in play, it’s just another game. It’s just business as usual. We don’t care where we play. We don’t even care if there are lights. We just want to play.”

The Rebels will face a tough task against Notre Dame, a team that has rushed for 3,057 yards and 43 touchdowns this season, averaging 255 yards per game.

“They’re very, very, very good,” Stubbs said. “They’re extremely well-coached. They’re very physical. They’re Parkview Baptist on steroids.”

But Stubbs believes his Rebels match up well against the Pios.

“I like our athleticism,” he said. “I think it’s going to come down to a game of execution.”

The Rebels are coming off a hugely emotional semifinal victory.  Not only did the Rebels need to win to advance to the championship game, they had to beat their cross-town rival, St. Charles Catholic, for the second time this season. After grabbing the momentum early on the way to a 35-3 victory the first time, the Rebels were a little slow out of the gate the second time around. St. Charles took the opening kickoff and kept the ball away from Riverside for more than eight minutes of the first quarter.

“Yeah they did kind of keep it away from us,” Stubbs said.  “Then our defense started wearing down their quarterback a little bit.”

The defense held St. Charles to 115 yards in the first meeting and to 190 in the second.

“I think our defense has played remarkably well,” Stubbs said. “They’re probably the least heralded aspect about our team.”

That’s likely because the offense has so many weapons — despite a slew of injuries. Projected starter Jordan Loving was hurt before the season began, so Jared Butler took over. When he got hurt, wide receiver Herb McGee moved into the spot. Butler returned under center in early October and last week, Loving resumed workouts with the team.  Added with running back Brandon Sanders, Stubbs has a lot of options in the backfield.  And whoever throws the ball has as many targets to choose from, including McGee and scorer-of-all-the-points (he’s the kicker, too) Tyler Gauthier.

“We do have a lot of weapons,” Stubbs said.

But do the Rebels have what it takes to win a championship? They seem to think so.

“It’s unbelievable,” Butler said after Friday night’s big win. “Nobody thought we could do this. Of course I thought we could.”

Said Gauthier: “All the hard work we put in, day in and day out for four years, it’s amazing. It all paid off after all.”

By Lori Lyons