THIBODAUX – Peyton Guidry watched plenty of video, some that got under his skin a bit, as the Northwestern State senior linebacker prepared for Saturday morning's Southland Conference football game at Nicholls.

The Demons and Colonels collide at 11 a.m. in Guidry Stadium (no relation, he says), with kickoff shifted ahead to a morning start because of the approaching Tropical Storm Nate. Guidry will have dozens of family and friends in the stands in a stadium where he played a couple of high school games and some 7-on-7 tournaments, and attended Nicholls games as a kid.

This week, he's watched more than the normal amount of game tape, reviewing the Colonels' offensive schemes and searching for tendencies. There have also been glances at clips of the Colonels celebrating after they won the "NSU Challenge" game last season, taking a wooden trophy created in 1994 back home with them.

"It's a rivalry, no doubt. Games like this, with the NSU trophy, and with SFA (Stephen F. Austin) and Chief Caddo, as soon as the game ends, the winning team is running for that trophy.  There's no shaking hands, we're going to get that trophy. There's a lot of pride on the line," said Guidry, who grew up about an hour from Nicholls in Cut Off.

One of his very best friends is former South Lafourche teammate Mason Boudreaux, a running back for Nicholls. Although Boudreaux is sidelined for the season with a knee injury, Guidry looks forward to seeing him Saturday after the game, and hopefully sending him some video.

"Last year when they won (31-14), he sent me videos of them on the way home, kissing the trophy, hugging it, celebrating with it … just kind of rubbing it in my face, that they beat us," Guidry said Friday morning during a radio interview on The Tim Fletcher Show. "I'd like to return the favor on our ride home Saturday."
Undeniably, although Guidry never lacks for motivation, this game is especially meaningful.

"It does (carry extra incentive). There's a lot of people who supported me throughout my football career, whether it's been little leagues, middle school, high school, whatever. A lot of those can't travel to road games, and it's an hour, maybe even 45 minutes from home, and I've had people reach out to me saying they were coming," he said, "and I appreciate it."
Guidry, head coach Jay Thomas and linebackers coach Jake Olsen all have local knowledge in Thibodaux. Thomas coached at Nicholls for 14 years, six (2004-09) as head coach. Olsen was an assistant for the Colonels in 2014.

It's a crucial contest in the Southland standings. Both teams have a league loss and another one could severely damage hopes to win the conference title. Nicholls is 3-2 overall, 2-1 in the Southland, while Northwestern is 1-3 overall and 1-1 in the conference.

Northwestern hopes to maintain a productive passing attack averaging 250 yards per game, led by senior quarterback J.D. Almond. Getting his eighth straight start, Almond has completed 58 percent of his passes in that stretch for 1,293 yards and seven touchdowns. His favorite targets are seniors Bobby Chan-Chan (17 receptions, 260 yards, 1 TD), Cameron Lazare (15-128) and Marquisian Chapman (14-87) while Jaylen Watson has three long touchdown receptions (52, 25, 74 yards).
 
The Demons' running game is targeted for improvement after netting just 67 yards last week against Southeastern Louisiana. Northwestern is averaging just 111.5 yards per game.
The Purple Swarm defense also had a bad night last Saturday. Top tacklers are senior linebackers Nick Pierotti (36), Chrishard Buhl (27) and Guidry (21), along with senior safety Austin Balhazor (22).

A webstream of the game, produced by KLRZ Radio of Larose, can be seen at no charge through southland.org/live with a Nicholls-centric set of announcers. The planned CST/ESPN3 coverage was scuttled when the game had to be moved up due to concerns about threatening weather.

The Demon Sports Network's pregame show begins at 10:30 with Patrick Netherton and Tony Taglavore setting the stage. The flagship station is 100.7 FM KZBL of Natchitoches, with affiliates in Shreveport (News Radio 710 AM KEEL), Alexandria (KBUCK 105.5 FM) and Many-Leesville (103.1 KWLA FM). The Demons Sports Network audio is streamed for free on NSUDemons.com.

Northwestern goes to Sam Houston State next Saturday, then is home on Oct. 21 to face Central Arkansas for homecoming.