AMSTERDAM - Coming off a bye week in the Empire Football League, the winless Amsterdam Zephyrs find themselves with a chance to climb out of the cellar and into the playoffs.
Amsterdam (0-4) will host the Montreal Voyageurs Saturday in the first of four home games over the final six weeks of the regular season.
"What better place would you rather be than on your home field?" Amsterdam head coach Joe Hall said. "Maybe the guys will rally around that and get positive results out of it."
The two games the Zephyrs will not play under the lights at the Lynch Literacy Academy are against the Albany Metro Mallers on Aug. 25 and the Monroe County Sting on Sept. 22.
In their last game before the bye week, the Zephyrs began moving the ball well, putting up 13 fourth-quarter points in a 35-13 loss to the Glens Falls Greenjackets.
"There were some positive things that came out of that game," Hall said. "We improved on offense and that was a good thing. We had some calls that didn't go our way again, but we are not going to complain about them. You need to play 60 minutes of football to win the game."
The Zephyrs went with a change at quarterback against Glens Falls with Donnie Oeser taking the snaps instead of Chris Brooks.
"We just have to strive to get the offense motivated a little bit more so the defense isn't on the field 90 percent of the time," Hall said. "So if we can get the ball moving on offense, like we did against Glens Falls, we will be OK. Donnie is starting at quarterback again and the guys seem to be rallying around him. Hopefully they will continue to this week and we will have a good chance of bringing in a W."
Running back Elijah White has been the main running threat for the Zephyrs with an average of 6.0 yards rushing per carry.
David Gunyap and Title Lopez continue to set Amsterdam up in good starting field position on kick off returns.
Gunyap is averaging 28.8 yards per return, while Lopez is averaging 25.8 yards per return.
Montreal comes into the game after picking up its first win of the season, a 41-6 home field victory over Glens Falls.
"It is between them and us in the cellar," Hall said. "They are always a tough team, so we will have our hands full."
Hall said the key for the Zephyrs to be successful and have a shot at the playoff is, "our offense has got to click. We can't keep going 3-and-out. We have to give our defense a chance to rest. We were able to move the ball on offense against Glens Falls, so maybe we will keep up the momentum going this week."
Game time is slated for 7:30 p.m. at Lynch Literacy Academy.