NATCHITOCHES — Saturday night’s visit to the University of Houston will be Northwestern State’s first football foray into Robertson Stadium, or for that matter, the Houston metroplex, but it’s very familiar ground for new NSU Demons coach Bradley Dale Peveto and a pair of Demons legends.

The 46-year-old makes his head coaching debut not far from where he grew up in the fabled Golden Triangle area of southeast Texas. Peveto played high school football for his father, the late Ed Peveto, at Orangefield High School near Port Arthur.

Peveto’s father is in the Greater Houston Coaches’ Hall of Honor for his career accomplishments and impact turning around prep programs in communities like Orangefield and Coldspring.

As for the Demons’ coach, he spent four seasons (1999-2002) as secondary coach at Houston, serving as the Cougars’ assistant head coach in 2000 and co-defensive coordinator in 2001-02. His oldest child, 7-year-old daughter Payton, was born in Houston.

While it’s the first football game for Northwestern in Houston, it’s not the first time Demons played in Robertson Stadium. Two of the all-time greatest players in NSU history, fullback Charlie Tolar and receiver Charlie Hennigan, were All-AFL stars for the Houston Oilers from 1960-66 when the team played home games at Robertson Stadium.

Hennigan scored the first touchdown in Oilers history. Both players were chosen by fan voting to the Oilers’ All-Time Team selected on the franchise’s 30th anniversary, and both are in the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame.

Peveto says he’s always kept an eye on the Cougars, but never so much as he has recently watching tape of last year’s squad under then first-year coach Kevin Sumlin. Houston rallied from a 1-3 start to finish 8-5 with a win over Air Force in the Bell Helicopters Armed Forces Bowl as the Cougars averaged 563 yards, second nationally.

“I spent four years there. I have a lot of respect for the place and the people. Coach Sumlin did a great job coaching the team in his first year and they got on a great roll, all the way to a bowl win, putting up some tremendous offensive numbers along the way,” Peveto said Tuesday.

“We’ll have our hands full. We’re going in aiming to play hard, play smart, play tough. They’re a very, very good team that would win a lot of games in a lot of leagues around the country.

“They played a pretty tough schedule in a very competitive league and averaged 560-plus yards a game, that’s pretty impressive. They’re a well-coached offense and they do a great job of executing what they do very well.”

Peveto put the Demons through a two-hour practice Tuesday afternoon in full gear at Turpin Stadium.