Now that everyone has paid the Northern Football Conference piper, playoff action is ready to begin.
Following last Saturday's regular season closer, Mississauga and Mega City had yet to fully pay their league dues. Facing a midnight deadline yesterday, both teams eventually coughed up the money and were eligible to participate in the playoffs.
Now the Sault Steelers can fully prepare for their quarterfinal match-up on Saturday night against the seventh place Tri-City Outlaws. Game time is 7 p.m. at Rocky DiPietro Field.
The Steelers finished in a tie for first place with the Oakville Longhorns at 8-0 but were awarded the second playoff seed based on a points against tiebreaker. Despite a 3-5 record, the Outlaws are a good team that the Steelers need to be fully prepared for in order to win.
"Tri-City may be 3-5 but they are a tough 3-5. They had a really difficult schedule this year and they beat Mississauga and they are a 6-2 club so you know we are going to be facing a good football club," said Steelers head coach Barry Rushon.
Difficult may not be the word to describe the Outlaws' schedule. As an expansion club, the team was forced to play home and home contests against both Oakville and Mississauga along with a long trip to the Sault.
In the Sault/Tri-City game on June 21, the Steelers physically worn down the Outlaws and outscored them 24-7 in the second half on the way to a 31-13 win. The victory was the Steelers first big win of the season and it set the ball rolling towards an unbeaten season.
"I have checked over the stats and they have about 16 or 17 players that play university football at either Guelph or Waterloo or Laurier. They have talent and are a good team so we need to be ready for them," said Rushon.
Elsewhere in the NFC, two other quarterfinal games will be played on Saturday night with third place Mississauga (6-2) playing sixth place Mega City (4-4) and fourth place North Bay (5-3) meeting fifth place Oshawa (5-3). Oakville received a first round bye as league champions.
In the season opener, Mississauga edged Mega City 16-9 in a defensive battle that was won by the Mississauga defense with under a minute to play on a recovery of a bad snap. In mid-season, North Bay hammered Oshawa 34-14 but game-breaking kick returner/receiver Gifford Rose is expected back from injury for the playoffs for Oshawa.