For the past three weeks, the Haskell Indian Nations football team has done nothing but hit each other. Tonight, that will change, when the Indians face Peru State at 7 p.m. at Haskell, in both teams’ season opener.

“They are sick of hitting each other across the line of scrimmage,” fifth-year Haskell coach Eric Brock said. “They are hoping that what they have done in the off-season is going to pay off. I think they are excited.”

Brock knows about the difficulties of preparing for a season opener, since his coaching staff will have no film of Peru State from this season to look at. Making it more difficult for Brock is the fact that Peru State changed its defensive coordinator in the off-season.

“You try to get all the information you can from last year’s tape, trying to see what kind of personnel they have.” Brock said. “It helps give us clues as to what they are going to do.”

Brock expects Peru State to focus primarily on running the football in multi-back sets. He said that his team would have to be careful to not just focus on the run because Peru State had the ability to throw the ball down field.

Last year against Peru State, Haskell sneaked out a 24-21 victory. Peru State finished the season with just one win.

Haskell will rely on a red-shirt freshman, Marlon Dick, to lead an offense that averaged just under 15 points per game last season. The Fightin’ Indians finished 4-7. Brock hopes that his young quarterback will be able to help cure an offense that threw 24 interceptions last year.

“He is looking sharp,” Brock said. “He is going to have to make moves and throw around people. He gets the ball off quickly.”

Dick will take over for last year’s starter Kaleb Harris, who transferred to a school in Oklahoma. Harris threw 17 interceptions and just eight touchdowns.

Helping Dick in the backfield will be running back Bubba Harris, also a red-shirt freshman. Last season, Brock used an abundance of runners, none of which gained more than 320 yards for the season.

“Bubba is kind of a downhill speedy guy,” Brock said. “He is not going to make a whole lot of juke moves. He is going to run right at you and make one power move and try to break a tackle.”

Harris and Dick will be the focal points of the offense this season, and Brock understands their importance to the team.

“I think both of them together are going to be the ying- and the yang-type deal,” Brock said. “Without one or the other we might be hurting. I think Bubba is going to take some pressure of Marlon and vice versa.”

Leading the offense for Peru State will be a 6-foot-6, 240-pound quarterback, Derek Falor. Brock has yet to see Falor play, but figures his size could be an advantage.

On the defensive side of the ball for Haskell, Brock will look to senior defensive end Blaine Wise. Wise made 47 tackles last season, including seven tackles for a loss.

“He is a guy who is a positive leader who is going to make a statement on the field,” Brock said of the all-conference player. “He is always the first guy up in practice trying to get things going.”

After last season’s disappointing 4-7 record, Brock and his team have set some loftier goals for the upcoming campaign.

“We want to represent the independent teams in the NAIA in the playoffs,” Brock said. “We probably have to win eight or nine games to do that, but looking at our schedule, I think we have a pretty good shot of doing it.”

Brock hopes to challenge Friends University – a team the Indians lost to, 29-10, last season – for a playoff spot. He said he expected Friends to be near the top of the standings.

For now, Brock will have to wait to see how his team looks on the field tonight, to get a better idea if the team’s goal is within reach.