NATCHITOCHES – A month after their first homefield appearance, the Northwestern State Demons finally tee it up again in Turpin Stadium Saturday evening at 6 in a non-conference contest against first-time foe Kentucky Wesleyan.
 
The Demons aim to post their first win of the season in their fifth start, dropping three close Southland Conference battles along with an opening loss at major college unbeaten Baylor. NSU was idle last weekend.
 
The Panthers (1-4) posted a 21-7 victory at home in Owensboro, Ky., last Saturday over Central State, scoring all three touchdowns in the final 18 minutes. KWC is a Division II team hoping to become the first non-Division I foe since 1994 to win in Turpin Stadium, where NSU is 32-1 overall, and has won 19 straight matchups against smaller programs, the last coming in 2013.
 
Ten of the 18 Demon football staff members have coached at non-Division I programs, including head coach Jay Thomas and defensive coordinator Daryl Daye, who were together at Missouri Southern in 2012. Daye was the head coach and Thomas was the DC for his longtime friend.
 
"There are some really talented players, some really great coaches in Division II, and we'll see some of them Saturday night," said Thomas. "Their quarterback (DaMarcus Smith) started at North Texas last season. Their best receiver (Keelan Cole) is a three-time All-American sprinter and has caught seven touchdown passes already. We have to be ready to go."
 
The Demons will follow the leadership of game captains Terrance Boyd (offensive guard), De'Mard Llorens (running back), JeMarcus Marshall (defensive end) and Shakeir Ryan (receiver/returner), all seniors.
 
Boyd made his first appearance of the season and played well at Southeastern Louisiana two weeks ago, after recovering from minor knee surgery this summer. Llorens missed the SLU game with a shoulder injury and could return against the Panthers. Marshall has made 16 tackles so far while Ryan has climbed into third on NSU's career receptions list with 118, nine away from second all-time.
 
The contest kicks off a seven-game stretch in which NSU will play three of the next four, and four of the next six, at home.
 
NSU will give sophomore running back Ronald Green his first start and redshirt freshman Hunter Bedgood is expected to get his first extensive action in the backfield after being a special teams stalwart so far. Chris Jones, whose 176 yards rushing at SLU was the most by a Demon since 2008, could see limited action due to a leg injury.
 
Quarterback Brooks Haack threw his first two Demon touchdown passes at SLU and will start his fifth game with NSU after three seasons at UL Lafayette. Senior Tuff McClain tops the Demons with 207 yards receiving and 14 catches, while Ryan has 10 catches.
 
Defensively, junior Nick Pierotti leads NSU with 39 tackles, 10 more than junior safety Austin Balthazar. Junior linebacker Koby Welch has 267 and senior safety Adam Jones is at 25. Junior end Zak Krolczyk (17) and Marshall lead the defensive front in tackles.
 
Junior Eric Piccione has made all five of his field goal tries, three between 44-47 yards, and is averaging 39 yards on 22 punts.
 
Kentucky Wesleyan's Cole is a productive player, ranking in the top 10 of five Division II national statistics. He is fifth in all-purpose yards (187 per game), sixth in receiving TDs (7), seventh in yards per catch (25.1), ninth in receiving yards (628) and 10^th in receiving yards per game (125.6). He has scored five touchdowns of 64 yards or longer, all but one 80 yards or better.
 
The Demon Sports Network radio broadcast booms out of 100.7 KZBL FM in Natchitoches, with affiliate stations News Radio 710 in Shreveport, Sunny 106.9 FM of Alexandria and 103.1 KWLA serving Many and Leesville. Veteran announcer Patrick Netherton heads the crew handling the play by play, with sideline reporter Tony Taglavore and analyst Richard deVargas alongside. Their broadcast starts at 5:30.
 
Next week, NSU goes to Lamar to resume Southland Conference action, then returns home Oct. 22 to play McNeese in the Homecoming contest.