After three-week layoff, Saginaw Sting players ready to return to field in CIFL title game Saturday

Saginaw Sting Travis Mills NightView full sizeSaginaw Sting's Vernon Burden, left, and Andrew Beaver, right, celebrate after Beaver scored a touchdown during a game at the Saginaw Sting Travis Mills Night in the Dow Event Center on Saturday evening. Saginaw Sting defeated Indianapolis Enforcers 62 to 0 for their first shutout. To purchase this photo please call (989) 752-7171.

SAGINAW

— Before they look to cap an undefeated regular season with a second consecutive league title in this weekend's CIFL championship game, the Saginaw Sting first had to acclimate themselves to football again.

"All we're doing now is sharping up, getting used to our pads, everybody's putting pads on so we can run around and get used to them," Sting coach Fred Townsend said before Wednesday's practice.

A canceled final game,

and a scheduled bye week gave the Sting a three-week layoff from the last time they played a game. The layoff, Townsend said, "takes you out of rhythm."

But it's also added to the buildup to the team's second straight home title game — 7:30 p.m. Saturday at The Dow Event Center.

"We're chomping at the bit, we're ready to go," linebacker Andrew DeWeerd said. "Obviously outside of being the championship game, we just want to get on the field. We're football players, we love to play football."

A title Saturday would give the Sting three titles in their four years of existence. The team won the 2008 CIFL title in their inaugural season, and took the 2011 UIFL title in Saginaw following a year off.

The Sting's Saturday opponent, Dayton, is the same one they faced three weeks ago in their regular season finale. Saginaw won that game, 41-25, after scoring the first three touchdowns of the night and never letting then-unbeaten Dayton within 14 points.

As is typically the case with playing an opponent multiple times, the second game will come down to who makes the best adjustments. Townsend thinks most of those adjustments will come during the game.

"We know what each other is trying to do, what they're trying to accomplish," Townsend said. "You'll see some adjustments from my end and defensively when they come out with a new formation that we haven't seen."

Playing the same opponent twice in a row, the second time for a championship, isn't something anyone with the Sting is used to, but players say there will be no problem of motivation.

"It's kind of a different element," DeWeerd said. "They know what you do and you know what they do. It's really who adjusts better the second time around and who can throw some stuff in that the other guys aren't going to be prepared for. It's really all about execution the second time around."

Motivation to play a matchup that looks mismatched on paper is nothing new for this Sting team. It has won its eight games by an average of 38 points, and none by fewer than 14.

So Townsend will stick with the line he's used all year to keep the best team in the CIFL on track.

"People, they tell me all the time, 'How do you challenge this team?'" Townsend said. "It's about perfection. Playing four quarters of perfect football. And the score doesn't matter. We played better football scoring 47 points than we did when we scored 90. To me, that's what it's about: trying to play four quarters of Sting perfect football."

E-mail Kyle Austin at kaustin1@mlive.com, follow him on Twitter @KAustin_Mlive

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