PELLA — Coming off its bye week, the Central College football team makes a long trek to Albion College (Mich.) Saturday for its final tune-up before opening the Iowa Conference slate.

Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. at Sprankle-Sprandel Stadium in Albion.

The only meeting between the two teams was in 2008 at Albion. The Dutch racked up 13 points in a 4 minute span and hung on for a 13-12 victory. Central led 13-10 with 6 minutes left in the half when the Britons blocked a Dutch punt. Rather than risk an Albion touchdown, Central booted the ball out of the end zone for a safety. The Dutch defense held Albion to 64 yards in a scoreless second half.

The two squads have won a combined 64 league championships and both teams hold the league record for titles. Central has 30 in the Iowa Conference and Albion has 34 in the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association.

Albion returns 15 starters from last year’s 6-5 club that won a league crown and advanced to NCAA Division III playoffs for the eighth time in school history. The Britons are receiving votes in the AFCA poll with a 2-1 mark. Last Saturday, Albion held a 28-7 halftime lead against Benedictine University (Ill.) but suffered a 32-28 setback.

Tailback Clinton Orr leads the Albion offense on the ground with 341 yards on 61 carries, averaging 113.7 yards per game. He’s scored seven touchdowns and entered the season holding the school’s career rushing record. Orr was named the MIAA’s offensive MVP last year. The Briton’s second-leading rusher is tailback Darrin Williams. He’s scored one touchdown and ran for 116 yards on 29 carries.

“They have two very good tailbacks that run hard, have great vision and cut well,” coach Jeff McMartin said. “Albion also has a good line up front. They’re hard to stop.”

All-conference quarterback Spencer Krauss is 33-50-1 this season with 423 yards and five touchdowns. Krauss was sidelined with an injury in the fourth quarter last week, which gave the play-calling duties to freshman Dominic Bona. Bona is listed as this week’s starter, with freshman Mitch Clark as the back-up, but McMartin has the Dutch ready for anyone.

“We have a game plan for both Krauss and the back-up,” McMartin said. “You have to prepare for both. Albion will still have dangerous weapons and they’ll make sure their quarterbacks do a good job getting them the ball.”

The Britons also boast a solid defense that leads the conference in total defense (262.0) and sacks (11-65 yards).

“They run a good scheme,” McMartin said. “It’s a 4-2-5 defense and they utilize it well. They have a tremendous defensive line and their backs cover people well. They’ll put a lot of pressure on you and get a lot of sacks.”

The Dutch (1-1) used their week off to recover and continue to improve.

“We spent a lot of time working on getting better and looking at players in different spots,” McMartin said. “We had some people banged up from Augustana so a week off was good for them. I thought we used our time wisely to prepare for Albion.”

Two freshmen will crack the Dutch lineup Saturday. Zac Miller will start at inside linebacker and Dustin Smith will play defensive end. Also moving around is junior Matt Schrafel to right tackle, sophomore Jacob Tune to strong safety and Andrew Weaks to outside linebacker.

Central will need to take advantages of its opportunities Saturday.

‘We’re going to have to do things the right way, take care of the ball and utilize the offense,” McMartin said. “We’ll have to create big plays and on defense, we’ve got to slow them down and find ways to stop them.”

The Dutch will also key in on special teams. Central is first in the league and sixth in the nation in net punting at 41.1 yards per punt. Sophomore Blaine Forsythe handles the punting chores and has 12 punts for 495 yards, with five punts inside the 20 yard line. However, with Williams and Orr back on the return, Albion is 12th in the division in punt returns (18.36).

“They have some good returners but special teams is an area we need to win Saturday,” McMartin said. “All the way across the board, Albion will be tough to stop.”