CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The Charlotte Thunder can cap off a perfect season with a win Saturday night against the North Texas Bulls in the American Arena League championship game. The road to the crown runs through Charlotte's Bojangle's Coliseum, just the way head coach Ervin Bryson wanted it.

This time, however, Bryson would like a different ending when everything is on the line, having been perfect in a previous season, but losing the finale.

"We built this team so we could go undefeated again, to get the opportunity to play in the championship game again.  So now, we're here," Bryson said at practice this week. "The best thing about it, is we're getting the chance to play at Bojangle's Coliseum, where we are undefeated."

That could be a harbinger of things to come, as the Thunder won eight of their 10 games at home, outscoring their opponents 576-118.  In their last outing, back on June 6, the Thunder demolished the Carolina Predators 90-12, a game that saw running back David Hamm rush for six touchdowns, and add a pair of two-point conversion scores.

The Thunder will go 20 days between games, and the long layoff was a concern for Bryson this week.  His team was given some time away to recharge for the championship game, and upon returning, the coaching staff had the job of pushing the players harder to get them back in the right frame of mind.

"If we play fast and up-tempo in practice, we're hoping that it will transfer over to the ballgame," said Bryson.

Losing the title game with a previously unbeaten team is a memory that still lingers with the head coach, but he says he actually has allowed himself to envision winning it all on Saturday.

"I have," Bryson continued. "I've seen it in my sleep, my phone keeps ringing, and it's all about us getting this win. I'm from a small town in Abbeville (SC), and we won seven state championships in a row.  Everybody back home is telling me, 'you can't come home if you don't win."