Seattle ballhawks make late Grey Cup chase for Lions

DEFENSIVE TANDEM

IAIN MACINTYRE VANCOUVER • There were 3½ years between Ryan Phillips and Brandon Stewart when they were growing up in Seattle, but much less than that separated the former high school football stars.

“I grew up right around the corner from Franklin High School,” Stewart, 30, said of Phillips’ school near Lake Washington. “We all knew who RP was. He’s the same age as my sister. Everyone in Seattle knew who RP was.

“Anytime I played B.C., RP was the guy I came to after the game. Just mutual respect. We’re from the same city and we love the game of football and we play with passion. I’ve followed him his whole career.”

Never more closely than this season, when Stewart signed with the B.C. Lions to play alongside Phillips in the secondary.

They were neighbours in Seattle and they’re neighbours on the Canadian Football League team. Phillips, who has spent his entire 12-year career in British Columbia, lines up next to Stewart on the wide side of the Lions’ defence. Stewart is the cornerback, Phillips the halfback.

“You’ve got to have some Seattle pride, be proud of where you come from,” Phillips said. “There’s not a lot people there who play football no more. We’re like the last of the Mohicans.”

After two seasons with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and five before that with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, Stewart joined the Lions as a free agent last February for the chance to win a Grey Cup and live closer to home. The opportunity to play with Phillips was a nice bonus.

The Lions will advance to the CFL championship if they beat the Calgary Stampeders Sunday in the West final in Alberta.

Phillips won Grey Cups with the Lions in 2006 and 2011, but knows he should have more than two championship rings. At least his five-year cycle for titles bodes well for B.C. But Stewart has never won a ring.

He was a penalty flag away from a title with Hamilton in 2014 when what would have been one of the biggest plays in Grey Cup history was nullified by one of the smallest officiating decisions — a marginal illegal-block penalty that wiped out Brandon Banks’ apparent gamewinning, 90-yard punt return against Calgary in the final minute at B.C. Place Stadium.

Three years before that, Stewart was with Winnipeg when it lost the final in Vancouver to Phillips and the Lions.

Stewart’s CFL career began with two games for the Stampeders, but he was released in Week 3 of the 2008 season, which ended with Calgary beating the Montreal Alouettes in the Grey Cup.

Stewart said he never won anything in his lone season of junior college in Arizona or with Ingraham High School in North Seattle.

“I was on the best 1-8 team in the State of Washington in my senior year of high school,” Stewart joked after practice this week. “I want a Grey Cup ring. It just would be the ultimate accomplishment at the end of your football career. Your stats are cool and the money is fine. But you’re going to spend that money. That ring is something I’ll have forever. I’ll be able to pass it on to my kids. It will be part of my family forever.”

Stewart knows time is running short.

His partnership with Phillips — 22 CFL seasons between them — makes a fascinating contrast to the short side of the Lions’ secondary, where serious injuries to Ronnie Seattle natives and B.C. Lions defensive backs Brandon Stewart, left, and Ryan Phillips at practice in Surrey this week. Yell and T.J. Lee have made starters out of rookies Anthony Gaitor and Chandler Fenner.

Phillips and Stewart agree it’s their experience that allowed them to team up fairly seamlessly.

“You know what you’re going to get out of RP every week,” Stewart said. “He’s reliable. I respect his game, I respect his career. And he has respect for me and what I’ve done. It’s easy to play next to someone who respects you. I trust him. He’s a helluva football player and he’s a great dude, too.”

Phillips said of Stewart: “He’s a guy who comes to work every day, wants the best for the team, wants to win the ball game. And he hasn’t had the experience of winning a Grey Cup, so he’s going to give that added push to get that. We both have that sense of urgency.

“Everybody wants to leave a winner, right? Once you have gotten close like he has, playing in Grey Cups before, you get that taste in your mouth to have that success. That drives you week in and week out. That drives you throughout your career. That’s what you dream about as a kid — winning championships and being in the big game. Hopefully we can celebrate together.”

As a measure of the Lions’ excellence for most of his career, Phillips has never missed the playoffs.

“I know for sure I should have at least two more championships,” he said. “In 2007, I feel like we let it slip away. I think we won 14 games that season. Same thing in 2012. Both of those teams lost the western finals at home. We felt we were the better team, but it’s all about that one day and if you don’t perform … that’s the result you’re going to get.”

He may have Grey Cup jewelry, but Phillips’ biological clock is ticking even louder than Stewart’s. His 34th birthday was on Tuesday. Phillips has played 228 regular season and playoff games for the Lions and until last season had never missed a game for B.C.

“Even people within my family say: ‘Is this going to be it for you?’ ” Phillips said. “When you’ve played as long as I have, of course that’s going to be the topic of conversation. Right now, the only thing I’m focused on is my team and how I’m going to get these guys to the Grey Cup.

“I know I’m fortunate to have two championships. I’m hoping to get a third.”

At this point, Stewart would settle for one.