McMichael gets his undefeated season

After all these years.

After Notre Dame's Joe Montana stopped him and Texas in the Cotton Bowl.

After Dan Marino and the Dolphins ended his and the Bears' dream run in Miami.

Chicago Slaughter head coach Steve McMichael finally has himself an undefeated season (14-0) thanks to a tighter-than-expected 58-48 victory over Fort Wayne in the Continental Indoor Football League championship game Saturday night at the Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates.

"We lost the Miami game and the national championship game - it's so hard to do this in today's sports," McMichael said. "I'm going to go apologize to Mike Ditka; I didn't know how hard this is. But finally, an undefeated season."

"You can't put into words; it's a blessing," said Slaughter receiver Donovan Morgan, the game's MVP courtesy of his 3 TD catches. "You rarely find a professional team that goes undefeated - and wins the championship."

Fellow receiver Bobby Sippio turned in the play of the game in the second half with a head-over-heels TD catch that ended with him flipping over the boards, ball in hand.

"When I woke back up the ball was still on my chest," Sippio said with a laugh. "I've never experienced anything like that. I didn't even see the flip, but I heard it was pretty good."

As was finishing off an undefeated season.

"We're champions," Sippio said simply.

But it didn't come as easily as expected. Underdog Fort Wayne actually began the game with the lead, and the game was tied until the final seconds of the first half when the Slaughter's Chris Nendick nailed a 52-yarder - the longest field goal in CIFL history - to give the Slaughter a 31-28 halftime lead.

"That really got us excited," Sippio said.

And in the end it got the Slaughter the trophy and McMichael a Gatorade shower and the final words of a magical season.

"I'm so proud of these guys," he said.