In a season that has been better than anyone had ever dreamed, the Sault Steelers will look to cap a brilliant regular season with a perfect record.
Sitting at 7-0 in a first place tie with the Oakville Longhorns, who are also 7-0, the Steelers complete the Northern Football Conference regular season on Saturday night against the Sudbury Spartans beginning at 7 p.m. at Rocky DiPietro Field.
So far, the Steelers have guaranteed themselves a second place and home field advantage in the first two rounds of the playoffs. The Steelers can gain first place and a first round bye should Oakville lose in Tri-City on Saturday.
In the NFC playoff structure, the first place team receives a bye while the second place team plays the seventh, third plays sixth and fourth meets fifth in quarterfinal action.
"Year after year we throw our cowboys on the coach and we head down the road for the playoffs, but now we have a great opportunity to display our talents in front of our home crowd," said Steelers head coach Barry Rushon.
"This city has been supportive over the years and we appreciate that and this is an opportunity for us to pay them back. We are hoping to go as deep into the playoffs as we can."
Should the Steelers win, it would mark the first undefeated regular season in franchise history, dating back to the old Steeler era.
"We have a chance to be 8-0 and we would definitely love to finish that way. We don't want to be going into the playoffs on a down note," said Rushon.
Sudbury has struggled this year but is coming into the game fresh off their first win of the season against Belleville last Saturday. Although the Steelers should handle the Spartans easily, Rushon knows he has to keep his team prepared and not overconfident.
"Sudbury got their first win and it would definitely be a feather in their cap to beat us. There is always a rivalry between us so I'm going to prepare for a tough game. We are not going to take them lightly and we are preparing for a tough, smart game. We call it damage control and we want to make sure that we keep firing on all cylinders and make sure that everybody is thinking positive and forward”
"We would like to get it done early so we can give some key guys some rest and we don't want to push anybody who is hurt or nursing some nagging injuries."
Ken Hilderley