CFL NOTEBOOK

WINNIPEG – Grammy-nominated rock band Fall Out Boy will perform at halftime during the Grey Cup game, the CFL announced Tuesday.

The American band’s 2005 album From Under the Cork Tree went double platinum and earned Fall Out Boy a best new artist nomination at the 2006 Grammy Awards.

The Grey Cup game will be played Nov. 29 at Investors Group Field.

The league also announced that country artist Dean Brody will be featured in the kickoff show and Quebec singer-songwriter Bobby Bazini will perform the national anthem.

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TORONTO — Derel Walker, Shawn Lemon, and Mike Reilly were named the Shaw CFL Top Performers of the Week for Week 19 of the CFL’s 2015 season.

Edmonton’s first-year player, Derel Walker caught three touchdown passes in their 40-22 win over the Montreal Alouettes to give them first place in the West Division.

Walker’s trio of touchdowns doubled his season total, and his 128 yards on 10 catches put him at 1,110 yards for the season, the only rookie to join an elite club of veterans in the 1000-yard club despite missing a third of the season.

Ottawa REDBLACKS defensive lineman Shawn Lemon recorded a pair of sacks to help the REDBLACKS clinch a home playoff date with a 12-6 win over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

Edmonton Eskimos quarterback Mike Reilly helped secure his team first place in the West after coming back and beating the Montreal Alouettes 40-22 at Commonwealth Stadium.

Reilly completed 29 of 35 passes (82.9 percent) for 308 yards and tossed three touchdowns to Derel Walker.

The Kennewick, Washington native also added 16 rushing yards on 6 attempts.

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CALGARY – Stay sharp, stay healthy and don’t show all your cards is the challenge the Calgary Stampeders will face in their final regular-season game.

The defending Grey Cup champions (13-4) close out on the road against the B.C. Lions (7-10) on Saturday. A win is desirable but impacts neither the standings nor the playoff picture.

The two teams will meet again in the West Division semifinal eight days later in Calgary, by far the most important contest. Both the Stampeders and Lions will manage the game and their rosters Saturday with that Nov. 15 playoff encounter in mind.

“We’ll try and do what we can to be flexible with the roster, but there’s only so much you can do,” Calgary head coach/GM John Hufnagel said Tuesday at McMahon Stadium. “The approach is we’ll take 44 guys and try and win the football game.

“We can’t be concerned about injuries. Everybody that goes to the game will play.”

Hufnagel wants all three quarterbacks to get reps Saturday, but is starting backup Drew Tate for the first time this season. Incumbent Bo Levi Mitchell says he’d be willing to go wire to wire, but understands the balance that must be struck.

“Whether or not I get in and get a lot of work, a little bit of work, I still don’t know yet,” Mitchell said. “It’s always nice to get out there and throw a few passes, especially against a team you’re going to be playing (again).”

The semifinal winner advances to the division final in Edmonton against the Eskimos (14-4) on Nov. 22.

Edmonton is on an extended break as it finishes the regular season with a bye week. The Eskimos will have another week off while Calgary and B.C. prepare for the West Division semifinal.

Whether all that time off before a must-win game helps or hinders execution is certainly debatable. But Edmonton will certainly be a healthy and rested team by then.

The Stampeders lost starting defensive linemen Micah Johnson and Demonte Bolden to knee injuries two years ago in this very same scenario – a meaningless game in Vancouver to end the season. Calgary was upset in the division final by Saskatchewan, which went on to win the Grey Cup that year in Regina.

Saturday’s game gives new running back Jerome Messam more time to get more comfortable with Calgary’s offence.

Acquired on Oct. 14 from Saskatchewan, the six-foot-three, 245-pound Toronto native ran for 121 yards on 15 carries and scored a two-point convert in his Stampeder debut Saturday against his former team.

“Hopefully we can open up the playbook a little more with me this week and I can do some more productive things,” Messam said.

Messam ranks second in CFL rushing with 947 yards and just 50 yards behind B.C.’s Andrew Harris. Jon Cornish, the CFL’s leading rusher three straight seasons, remains out of Calgary’s lineup with neck pain.