Lions, Roughriders showdown a potential West Semifinal preview to headline Week 19 in CFL
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The BC Lions and Saskatchewan Roughriders meet in the prairie on Saturday in a potential West Semifinal preview, with a lot still on the line with three weeks remaining in the CFL regular season.
Saskatchewan and BC both locked up berths in the postseason with wins in Week 18, but given the single point that separates the two in the standings, a win on Saturday will go a long way to deciding the playoff picture in the West Division.
The Roughriders enter Week 18 in second in the West at 8-7-1, having won three straight to surge ahead of the Lions.
“I’m happy with where we are in terms of where we were about a month ago,” quarterback Trevor Harris said after their 28-24 win over the Edmonton Elks over the weekend.
“It will be a quick celebration and then it is time to move on because we have bigger and better things we want to accomplish as a group,” Harris added.
Before the recent winning streak, Saskatchewan was mired in an extended rough patch in which they were winless in seven consecutive games (six losses and a 22-22 tie against the Ottawa Redblacks).
The Lions (8-8), meanwhile, picked up an important 32-15 win over the Calgary Stampeders on Friday that snapped a two-game skid. But after jumping out to a 5-1 start in June and July, head coach and general manager Rick Campbell is still pressing his team to find an identity in the midst of a 3-7 slump.
“We used to be a team that could throw the ball all over the place, and right now, we’re not in that groove," Campbell said after their victory over Calgary. "We do some good things, but then we have some negative plays that stopped us tonight.”
Quarterback Nathan Rourke echoed the sentiment, stating before their game against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats two weeks ago that the team needed to "have a sense of urgency."
“There’s a lot of importance in these last four games,” Rourke said after practice that week. “We’ve got to get it going.”
BC won the only meeting between the teams earlier this year, 35-20 on July 13. The Lions have won five of the past seven meetings between the two teams.