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VANCOUVER – The Calgary Stampeders have taken their place at the top of the CFL 's West Division, but the club' s head coach feels his team is not what it is. it takes to win before the playoffs.
"We have to be a better team, I do not think anybody's afraid of us right now, it's really not the case," Dave Dickenson said on Saturday after the Stamps defeated C. B. Lions 26-9.
But the coach is not nervous before the playoffs, as the team now has enough time to get ready and get in shape.
Saturday's win means Calgary (13-5) won the division title, winning its ticket to the West final in Calgary on Nov. 18.
"I know this team needs to improve, I know we have to keep working because we are still not there, we are not yet championship-caliber," Dickenson said. "But we are working and I felt we were still taking steps (Saturday)."
The Lions (9-9) were already stuck at the crossroads and will enter the East semifinal in Hamilton on Nov. 11. The winner will travel to Ottawa to face the Redblacks in the Eastern Final.
The Saskatchewan Roughriders (12-6) will host the Winnipeg Blue Bombers (10-8) in the Western semifinal on the same day. The winner will travel to Calgary for the Western Final.
The Stampeders knew that first place and a week of rest were up for grabs on Saturday and were played out accordingly, said Dickenson.
Calgary controlled the game from the start, holding BC to a scoreless first half.
The Stamps are out of the locker room ready to play a little more cautiously, said Dickenson.
"The goal was to win and not to hurt as much as possible," he said. "And I think we have achieved that goal."
BEFORE CHRIST. Quarterback Travis Lulay had 111 pbading yards and two interceptions in the first period before being replaced by Jonathon Jennings, who had 140 yards.
Calgary's Bo Levi Mitchell threw for 278 yards and a touchdown.
Mitchell now has 5,124 yards for the season, marking the second time the 28-year-old has surpbaded the 5,000 mark in his career.
The veteran quarterback said he had texted his Edmonton counterpart, Mike Reilly, earlier in the season, suggesting they race to find out who could do 6,000 yards.
"Obviously things are happening, the season is long and we both had our hiccups," Mitchell said. "But I thought it was a great season, I think it was my best so we'll see what happens, but I'm focusing on one thing and it's the series."
He encourages his teammates to take the same approach, telling them to take advantage of their days off, but keep in mind the aftermath of events.
"Yeah, okay, let your body rest, but keep your football spirit, keep watching the movie, you know who's going to be our opponents, keep on preparing you desperately," he said.
Chris Matthews of Calgary is ready to work more.
"It's not because you had a good game that you can not improve, there are still things that we went out and ruined," said the receiver, who did a seemingly impossible pbad on a huge Mitchell pbad on Saturday.
"But a win is a win, I'm not worried about anything for now,"
The play led to the second touchdown of the Stamps night.
Calgary's victory was a sort of spoiler for Lions head coach Wally Buono, who was playing his last home game.
Buono – who has the most coaching victories in the history of the CFL – is expected to retire at the end of the season.
He noted that the festivities had perhaps somewhat disturbed his team on Saturday. The fact that the fate of the Lions playoffs has been fixed does not help either, Buono said.
"Football is a fun game," he said. "If you do not have that adrenaline, these butterflies, this anxiety, it's hard to create the intensity needed to play at that level."
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NOTES: Bryan Burnham, Lions receiver, collected 43 pbading yards on Saturday, bringing his total for the regular season to 1,029. This is the third year in a row that the 28-year-old has crossed the bar 1 000 yards. … Dave Dickenson, Stampeders coach, is waiting for Eric Rogers to be in good health for the Western Final. The receiver missed this week's game due to a knee injury. … BC The Lions also paid tribute to Bill Reichelt on Saturday. The long-time training of the team is retiring at the end of the season.
© Copyright Times Colonist
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