NATCHITOCHES – The fans attending Northwestern State's “Season Ticket Pickup Party” Wednesday evening from 5:30 to 7:30 will get more than they bargained for from the Demons' football team in its 6 o'clock scrimmage.
The competition is the final in three major preseason scrimmages, but comes eight evenings before NSU opens the season in Turpin Stadium next Thursday, Sept. 1, against 2010 NCAA Division II runner-up Delta State. The flagship station of the Demon Sports Network, 100.7 FM KZBL in Natchitoches, will broadcast the scrimmage.

It will be more than just a dress rehearsal, however, especially on kickoffs, NSU coach Bradley Dale Peveto said Tuesday.
“We'll have a Wild Demon tryout for our kickoff team with a bunch of our walk-ons and newcomers, guys who haven't gotten a good look yet. We'll tackle and see who shows up,” he said. “It won't be like the run of the bulls in Pampalona, but it will be exciting.”

Otherwise, Peveto doesn't plan to see tackles made in a workout that should include about 75 plays from scrimmage.

“We'll get some good on good work, some long drives, and situational work. We'll thud off, so it won't be very physical. We play eight days from the end of the scrimmage. We need the tempo, the speed of the game, and we need the looks we'll get,” he said.

It will be a very productive night and it will be fun for us and for our fans. It's one more test of game situations, without tackling,” said Peveto. “We'll fit up, tap off, come to balance. It's really touch football. We're right where we need to be and we want to minimize the risk of injury.”The Demons will probably run 30 scrimmage plays each involving the first and second teams, and another 15 with the third teamers, he said. There will be additional special teams work.