Day of reckoning for Stamps as B.C. looks to honour Buono
Saturday is Wally Buono Day at B.C. Place.
It’s also a day of reckoning — of sorts — for the Calgary Stampeders.
While the legendary Buono makes his final regular-season coaching appearance before retirement, his old team is hoping to beat his new one to clinch first place in the CFL’s West Division, which would make it five titles over the last six campaigns.
Along with that would come the all-important bye to the West final for the 12-5 Stampeders.
Plenty on the line, indeed. At least for the visiting team to B.C. Place (8 p.m., TSN/770 CHQR).
“It’s been a while since this last week (of the regular season) has meant something to us like this,” Stampeders quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell told reporters earlier this week. “It’s a Grey Cup-like feeling, a playoff-like feeling that it’s do or die for us.”
The Lions know it, too.
“Of course, Calgary’s got a lot to play for,” Lions quarterback Travis Lulay told reporters Friday. “They have a lot of pride. If nothing else, they’re in the same boat as us and they want to feel good about themselves, probably even more so than (getting) that first-place bid.
“So we expect them to come out and play like the championship-calibre football team that they’ve been for the last few years,” added Lulay, who’s expected to start against the Stampeders. “We have to come ready to play. If we’re just going through the motions and walking through it, they’ll beat us up. And we don’t want that kind of game. We want to match their physicality and intensity and settle in and play a real good football game.
“On our side, we’re not concerned about their story and what they’re going through. They have their own issues. But they have high expectations in their lockerroom and you have to play good football to beat Calgary, period.”
As for Lulay and the Lions, there’s little riding on the tilt.
At 9-8, they are locked into the playoffs as the CFL’s crossover team, the West Division club that crosses over to play in the East Division semifinal against the 8-9 Hamilton Tiger-Cats. So a win over the Stamps on Saturday means nothing where the standings are concerned.
Then again.
“It’s good because we get a chance to play against one of the best teams in the CFL the last few years,” said Lions defensive end Shawn Lemon. “It brings out the best of you as a player. Anytime you play against one of the best teams in the league, it gets the blood boiling a bit.”
Plus there’s that word pride being tossed around, especially with the Lions hoping to send Buono out as a winner in his last game at B.C. Place.
“We know that they’re looking to come out and spoil first place for us,” Mitchell said.
“It’s a Wally Buono team, so we know they’re not giving up on anything. It doesn’t matter that this game doesn’t mean anything to them in the standings. They were playing really well there for a while and had one hiccup of a game (losing in Regina) last week.
“So we know we’re getting everything they’ve got. They’re going to come bring it, so we’ll be ready.”
Certainly it’s what the Stamps have been expecting all along, even before they dropped three consecutive contests to put them in their current situation.
A fourth straight loss Saturday means hosting next week’s West semifinal rather than earning a bye through to the West final in two weeks.
“The way it’s happened obviously isn’t the way we wanted it to happen,” said Mitchell of the losing skid that included a 29-21 loss last weekend to the visiting Winnipeg Blue Bombers.