CINCINNATI – With a very young roster still finding its footing, the Northwestern State football team visited Minnesota last week getting more than simply a chance to face off against a Big Ten program for the first time in program history.
Last Saturday’s game doubled as a classroom.
“Those games are what they are, but with that there is a lot that we can learn from it,” head coach Blaine McCorkle said. “How to play a game. How to play clean. How to go on the attack and not sit back and feel the game. With our extremely young team, there’s a lot to be learned from that game.
“I told them after the game you either lose, or you learn. We’re going to take the lessons from this one and do just that –- learn.”
The Demons (1-1) get their second straight test against a power-conference team when they visit Cincinnati (1-1) of the Big XII on Saturday afternoon at 2:30 p.m. The game telecast will stream on ESPN+ with a Demon Sports Network radio broadcast available through 100.7 FM KZBL in Natchitoches and through www.nsudemons.com.
Saturday’s outing against the Bearcats is an immediate chance to put the Demons’ newly-gained knowledge and experience to work.
“You can change the uniform and the location but we’re playing the exact same team this week,” McCorkle said. “In terms of talent and atmosphere and things like that it’s essentially the same as last week.
“So, what did you learn from Minnesota? What are you going to change? We talk about constant, continual improvement, how do you do that. We challenged them to make honest assessments of what they need to do as individuals to be more prepared to play in that type of environment and game. If they do that, they will get better and that will help us the rest of the season.”
The growth mindset that has been instilled within the Demons since day one of McCorkle’s time in Natchitoches has become second nature for second-year players in the system like safety Kaden Mackey.
“Win or lose every week is a new opportunity,” said Mackey, who led the Demons with a career-high 11 tackles, a week ago. “If you go out and win, you celebrate but know you still have work to do. We just have to get better every day and improve. Coach talks about constant, continual improvement and that’s where we focus.”
The Demons displayed the first snapshot of that against the Golden Gophers, before Mother Nature intervened to conclude the game with just over six minutes remaining.
Across the final 12-plus minutes of competition, Troy Santa Marina recorded his first career interception, the Demons’ third in two games this year, and the defense stood tall with a goal line stand, getting a 4th-and-1 stop on what became the final play of the game.
“One of the things I was really proud of our team for was they played until the end of the game,” McCorkle said. “They never backed off. We were in a game a year ago against an FBS opponent where that didn’t happen. So, I think it showed some of the maturity of our program to stay positive and stay together. Find ways to stay in the fight and try to find a way to make a play. They did that and I give them a lot of credit for that.”
The Demons made three straight defensive stops and saw similar progress on the offensive side of the ball, even with the game well in hand. That effort was testament to the toughness that McCorkle has instilled in his team via the standard that has been set from the start of offseason work.
“We work extremely hard every day,” senior running back Kolbe Burrell said. “I think this is one of the hardest working teams I’ve been a part of. It’s a new identity and new mentality. We want to embody working hard and striving for the things we want. You’re not going to get anywhere staying where you’ve been. If you want to do something different you have to be different.”
