BEAUMONT, Texas (AP) — Lamar University attracted hundreds of people to a soccer field for its final football intrasquad scrimmage of 2009 before the real thing returns next fall.

The scrimmage Monday night happened during light rain, in a session complete with cheerleaders and a pep band.

Texas State University System regents in February 2008 approved an athletics fee designed to fund football's return to Lamar. The Beaumont school's program has been dormant since 1989.

The Lamar program is led by coach Ray Woodard, a former defensive coordinator at Navarro College and an ex-Texas Longhorn and NFL player.