Tempers flare between West rivals
CALGARY Sixty minutes wasn’t enough time to settle the score between the Saskatchewan Roughriders and Calgary Stampeders.
Shortly after the Riders won 2924 on Saturday, two skirmishes broke out among the West Division rivals.
Chris Jones, the Riders’ head coach and general manager, found himself in the middle of a melee. The teams exchanged words while en route to their respective locker rooms.
“That’s just part of it when it’s an emotional game,” Jones said. “Everybody wants to protect their guys and I just wanted to make sure that I got them off the field.”
Jones added that the Stampeders were upset after safety Mike Edem slammed into Calgary receiver Lamar Durant, who was attempting to make a catch in the closing seconds. Edem was penalized for unnecessary roughness.
“I’m playing football,” Edem said. “If the refs thought I hit him too hard, then that’s on them. They can play flag football if they don’t like it.”
Some of the chippiness was evident between members of the teams’ linemen. Late in the first quarter, centre Brendon Labatte and defensive tackle Micah Johnson got into a shoving match after a play.
“The whole offensive line was exchanging pleasantries with them,” Labatte said. “We just continued to do our job and picked away at them.”
There weren’t any penalties assessed for the post-game scrums, involving members of teams with the league’s top two records.
“You have two good teams and you know there is a lot on the line and we’re going to fight for every inch,” Labatte said. “Towards the end, when it’s out of reach for one team, tempers flare.”