Steelers secure home field advantage with win.

The Sault Steelers will enjoy the comforts of home as the team secured themselves home field advantage in the playoffs until the championship game. Led by a rushing game that couldn't be contained, the Steelers defeated the Oshawa Hawkeyes 29-13 in Northern Football Conference action at Rocky DiPietro Field on Sunday afternoon. The win improves the Steelers record to a perfect 7-0 with one game remaining in the regular season. The win also secures the Steelers home field advantage in the quarterfinal and semi-final rounds of the playoffs. The Steelers still hold an outside chance of finishing first in the NFC if they can beat the Sudbury Spartans next Saturday at Rocky DiPietro Field at 7 p.m. and the 7-0 Oakville Longhorns lose in Tri-City. Should the teams tie, Oakville holds the tie-breaker of points against. Against Oshawa, the Steelers gained 221 yards on the ground led by Josh Gauthier's 152 yards rushing on 24 carries. Keegan Franklin added 68 yards on 12 carries. Anthony Posteraro opened the scoring on a 33 yard field goal in the first quarter before Franklin scored on a 29 yard run in the second quarter. Oshawa cut the lead to 9-6 on a eight yard reception from Evan Davis on a half back option play with 20 seconds remaining in the first half. In the third quarter, Posteraro booted a 17 yard field goal and Franklin scored on a two yard run to put the Steelers ahead 18-6. Oshawa, who played minus Gifford Rose, cut the lead to 18-13 before the Steelers sealed the victory with a Tim Higgins 73 yard pass and run touchdown from Travis McLean and an 18 yard Posteraro field goal. Tony Boniferro hauled in the two point convert attempt on Higgins' touchdown. "The offensive line, Josh and Keegan all came together today," said Steelers head coach Barry Rushon. "They are starting to block hard for each other and we are able to substitute (offensive) lineman freely in some spots despite the fact we are missing two linemen in Gord Corbiere (knee) and Ashton Young (ankle)." At quarterback, McLean completed two of four passes for 98 yards while Seth Cond completed three of five for 37 yards and an interception. Kyle Lansdell caught two passes for 33 yards and Boniferro caught two for 29 yards. Defensively, John Maione recorded 5.5 tackles and blocked a convert attempt while Troy Boyer made 5 tackles, Russ Moyle 4.5 tackles and Brandon Lewis made four tackles, four hurries and batted down a pass. Jason Brunetti made four tackles and an interception, James Albidone made four tackles and Gordie Campbell made three tackles, a sack and blocked a punt. "Our defense was good but I think we let each other down a little bit with our pass coverage. We were loose out there and I think we can tighten that up. But (Oshawa quarterback Jeremy Mussche) is good and he did a great job of picking out his receivers today," said Rushon. In other NFC scores from week eight, Oakville beat Mississauga 32-0, Milton beat North Bay 19-17, Mega City beat Markham 22-13 in overtime and Sudbury won their first of the year 16-15 over Belleville. *** NFC STANDINGS: Oakville 7-0 Sault Steelers 7-0 Mississauga 5-2 North Bay 5-3 Oshawa 4-3 Mega City 3-4 Tri-City 3-4 Markham 2-4 (+ 1 OT loss) Milton 2-5 Sudbury 1-6 Belleville 0-7