NATCHITOCHES – Northwestern State returns from an open date and celebrates Homecoming Saturday evening as the Demons try to cross the midpoint of their season in style by knocking the Cardinals of Lamar off their perch among the top Southland Conference football contenders.

Kickoff is 6 p.m. at Turpin Stadium as the Demons (0-5 overall, 0-3 in the Southland) play host to the Cardinals (3-2, 2-1). The teams did not meet last season but NSU has won all three meetings from 2011-13 since Lamar restarted its football program earlier this century.

The Demons were open last week following a 45-31 loss Oct. 3 at Incarnate Word, a game NSU led until late in the third quarter. Lamar won 44-28 last week at home against Abilene Christian as running back Kade Harrington, a junior, set the Southland Conference record with 347 yards rushing on 28 carries.

NSU built a 21-7 lead at UIW but was unable to sustain the scoring, despite season-best totals of 25 first downs and 447 yards, 242 on the ground. Senior running back Daniel Taylor led the way with touchdown runs of 51 and 1 yards.

The NSU-Lamar game broadcast will be on the Demon Sports Network, flagshipped by 100.7 KZBL in Natchitoches and including 710 AM KEEL in Shreveport, 105.5 FM KBKK in Alexandria and 103.1 KWLA in Many/Leesville. A free audio stream is available through NSUDemons.com, with a pay-per-view video stream also available.

Coach Jay Thomas says the Demons have used the open date to heal some bruises and make some adjustments to improve production and performance, particularly defensively, where a young unit has been unsuccessful. NSU is replacing eight defensive starters and played the first two games without all-conference safety Adam Jones.

NSU and Lamar have one common opponent, Southeastern Louisiana. The Lions scored a clinching touchdown with 61 seconds left on Sept. 3 to secure a 34-20 win over the Demons, and scored in the final minute on their homefield Oct. 1 to defeat the Cardinals 30-27.

NSU's most productive runner is junior De'Mard Llorens, who has 295 yards, a 4.8 average per carry, and three touchdowns. The top receiver is senior Ed Eagan, with 21 catches for 209 yards and a pair of scores. Three quarterbacks have played extensively, led by sophomore J.D. Almond who has thrown for 528 yards and three touchdowns while completing 58 percent of his passes.

Eagan, who already holds six NSU records and one Southland mark for most career kickoff returns, will become the conference career kickoff return yardage all-time leader with his first runback Saturday night. He needs only three yards to set the record, now 2,531 yards by Karrington Bush of Texas State from 2008-11.

Senior kicker Chris Moore, perfect on six field goals and 12 extra points this season, is 29 points away from topping the Demons' career scoring record of 223 points by kicker Robert Weeks from 2005-08.

Senior safety Chase Collins (39) and senior linebacker Jacob Merriman (36) are the top tacklers for the Demons, along with junior safety Darius Poullard, who has two fumble recoveries.

After the Lamar game, NSU goes on the road for two weeks, visiting in-state rivals McNeese next Saturday and Nicholls on Halloween. The Demons play two of their three November games at home, Nov. 7 against Abilene Christian and Nov. 21 against Stephen F. Austin.