Lions need to cash in on turnovers

Not turning turnovers into touchdowns could prove costly for the B.C. Lions when they face the Calgary Stampeders in Saturday's CFL West final.

The Lions had a chance to run the Saskatchewan Roughriders out of their own stadium in last weekend's semifinal in Regina. A snarling B.C. defence created four first-quarter turnovers, but the offence managed to covert them into just seven points.

B.C. went on to defeat the Riders 33-12, but quarterback Buck Pierce says the Lions must make better use of their opportunities against the Stampeders on Saturday.

"We're going to have to be better," Pierce said Wednesday after the Lions practised under dark, threatening skies at the team's training facility. "We were put in a situation to score a lot of points early and we didn't.

"We have learned from that. It was just a lot of things. We didn't execute early the way we needed to. We were wondering how they were going to play us. Once we got a feeling for what they were going to give us, then we could adjust our play calling."

It's unlikely the Stampeders will turn over the ball seven times against the Lions like the Riders did.

Calgary fumbled the ball away just 13 times this season and the 14 interceptions thrown by quarterback Henry Burris was the least by any team in the league.

B.C. defensive end Brent Johnson, one of five Lions named to the CFL's defensive all-star team, said Burris has shown more poise and patience this season.

"Henry is more consistent," said Johnson, who was third in the league with 10 quarterback sacks. "Henry is in a system he knows well.

"He can always go back to the fundamentals that will get him out of the tight spots. That brings a lot of confidence to someone, and I understand that. That doesn't mean you can't go and rattle him. It just means you have to take a different approach."

A physical Lions defence led the league with 68 quarterback sacks and 27 interceptions. Besides Johnson, B.C.'s defensive all-stars were Cam Wake, who had a CFL-high 23 sacks; Aaron Hunt, who was second with 10 sacks; safety Barron Miles and corner back Dante Marsh.

The Lions finished third in the West with a 11-7-0 record while the Stampeders were 13-5-0. Calgary won all three regular season games against B.C. by a combined score of 105-77.

The Stampeders use a balanced attack. Calgary scored 595 points this year, second only to Montreal's 610

Burris can hand the ball off to Joffrey Reynolds, who led all rushers with 1,310 yards on 227 carries, or throw it to Ken-Yon Rambo, the league's leading pass receiver with 1,473 yards on 100 catches.

The Stampeder defence also allowed a league-low 420 points.

"They are a good football team," said Pierce. "They are good in all three phases.

"As a defence they are very disciplined, don't make a whole lot of mental mistakes. We're going to have to go out there and match their intensity. They are going to have some new wrinkles for us."

Wally Buono, the Lions coach and general manager, said that's all the more reason why his team must take advantage of any turnovers it creates.

"You've got to match score for score, momentum for momentum," said Buono, who is taking the Lions to their fifth consecutive West final. "We are playing a team that has a more explosive offence. Scoring points when you get the opportunity is going to be critical.

"It didn't kill us last week. This week, if we do get a turnover, we are going to have to be able to capitalize on it because those are the opportunities you get and you won't get many of them."

Slotback Geroy Simon said one of the biggest challenges the Lions faced early against the Riders was dealing with the crowd noise. He doubts the team will face the same problem this week at McMahon Stadium.

"It doesn't matter if they have 50,000 fans there, it's not going to be as noisy as it is in Regina," said Simon. "That stadiums gets so loud and you can't hear anything.

"I don't think Calgary is going to be as loud. It's going to be loud, but it's not going to be as bad."

The winner of the West final will face either the Montreal Alouettes or Edmonton Eskimos in the Nov. 23 Grey Cup Game at Montreal's Olympic Stadium.

Johnson said most playoff games are decided by the team that wants to win the most.

"I think the determining factor in these playoff games is the heart and emotion that you bring out onto the field," he said. "It has yet to be determined who holds that, but I'm going to put my money with us."