MUSKEGON – Scheduling games has been an ongoing challenge for the West Michigan Ironmen over the past few years as they work to find new teams for Great Lakes Arena Football, the league they started last season.

There have been some long breaks between games, which is hard on the players who are trying to stay in competitive shape and keep their mental edge. It’s also been hard on fans, who show up for one exciting game then have to wait a while for the chance to root on the Ironmen again.

This year the Ironmen played their season opener on March 9, and will play their second game on Saturday night, against the Toledo Shamrocks, at Muskegon’s Mercy Health Arena.

But there will be no more long breaks, at least in the regular season, because the Ironmen are about to play three home games on three straight weekends.

After Saturday’s game, which begins at 7:15 p.m., they will host the Ohio Boom on Friday April 12, then the Michigan Avengerz on Friday April 19.

There will be another break after that, with the league playoffs set to begin on May 19 and the league championship game set for May 25.

At the moment, however, the Ironmen are preparing for a whole lot of football over a span of 14 days, and they love it that way.

“It’s exciting,” said Ironmen head coach Terry Mitchell. “The long break between games has been frustrating. The players have been blowing my phone up, asking when our next game is.

“We tried to get a few games in before this, but the Muskegon Lumberjacks had the arena booked for the next three weeks (after the first game). We couldn’t get the arena because of that.”

Mitchell knows Ironmen fans will be happy to see the team back on the field again – and again and again – after waiting for an encore performance following the successful season opener.

A huge crowd was on hand for the first game, and was rewarded with an 82-6 rout over the Tri-State Bucks.

Quarterback Alex Carder threw six touchdown passes – three to Sterling Alexander, two to John Ross and one to Tyler Bruce.

On the defensive side, the Ironmen had six interceptions – two apiece by Derek VandenBosch, Zach Watts and Kaden Nelson.

Nelson returned two interceptions for touchdowns while Watts did that once.

The impressive performance was a lot more fun for the team with the arena packed full of happy fans, according to Coach Mitchell.

“That last game we packed the house,” he said. “It was probably our biggest crowd ever. From the moment we stepped out on the field for pregame we saw there were a lot of people. That’s what we’re here for. We perform for our fans.

“I know the fans will be excited that we are back this week.”

Mitchell admits it’s a challenge to keep the team focused with long breaks between games.

He said it’s also challenging to keep the players motivated to compete against some of the upstart teams in the league, like the Tri-State Bucks.

But now, with three opponents coming in over the next three weekends, it’s simply time to crank up and maintain the intensity.

“We are champions, and these teams are trying to come into our arena and beat us,” Mitchell said. “We have to make sure we play our game and not stoop down to anyone’s level. We need to come prepared for every game.”

At least one of the next three games – against the Michigan Avengerz – should be very competitive, the coach said.

“That should be a pretty good game,” Mitchell said. “I heard they are pretty good.”