Carroll College football fans will have one last shot at seeing their team going full speed in game situations before they hit the road to start the 2008 season.

The No. 1-ranked Saints are holding their fall scrimmage Friday at 10 a.m. in Nelson Stadium. Entry is free and fans are encouraged to attend.

Carroll won’t have a game at home until Sept. 13 when they host Rocky Mountain College. They head out for their season opener against Azusa Pacific (Calif.) Aug. 30 and then spend their Frontier Conference opener in Dillon against the University of Montana-Western Bulldogs the next weekend.

Saints head coach Mike Van Diest said he hopes the team will be able to get in up to 95 plays on Friday. It will not be a traditional scrimmage, however, with the No. 1 offense and defense facing off.

Instead, the starting players will line up against scout teams running Azusa’s offense and defense in preparation for the season opener against the preseason ranked No. 23 Cougars.

“The biggest thing I want is assignment and alignment. I want execution, I want the timing and I want to find the offense — with two or three combinations — what receivers are going to be on the field with Gary,” said Van Diest, referring to junior quarterback Gary Wagner. “We’re going to put the ball in the down-and-distance situations that we want to see as coaches.”

Which means they’ll be running the gamut from red zone offenses and defenses, to third-and-longs and fourth-and-shorts. And, they’ll also reserve about 20 snaps for the special teams to test out the big foot of the NAIA’s top returning punter, senior Zach Thiry.

While starters have been ironed out, the game-speed situations will give Carroll’s coaches a good sense of who will be the key backups midway through the season, Van Diest said.

“Early in the season we’ve got to get these guys on the field,” he said. “Come the middle of the season they’re not looking at their first playing time.”

While they try to impress, the players’ toughest aspect of the scrimmage might be trying to mimic the Cougars’ schemes.

Azusa runs a pistol offense and confounding flex defense, similar to what Frontier Conference foe Eastern Oregon utilizes.

“From the outside eye it looks very complicated, but our offense has done a good job in the past blocking against it and playing against it,” Van Diest said. “They’re going to come at different angles and run that 3-3 blitz and put linebackers everywhere.”

The pistol offense might be easier to handle, but replicating Azusa quarterback Rodney Trimm’s speed might not be.

“That quarterback coming back is a terrific athlete. He was an understudy last year, but when you watch him when he did get to play he just scares the daylights out of me,” Van Diest said.

Add in the Cougar’s All-American wide receiver, Jon Davis, and it will be tough for the Saints to be prepared before the game.

Assistant Sports Editor

Jeff Windmueller: 447-4065 or jeff.windmueller@helenair.com