CFL NOTEBOOK: WEEK 15

EDMONTON – In just his second regular-season game at quarterback in almost three years, Logan Kilgore will start for a desperate Edmonton Eskimos team against the visiting Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Friday night.

Kilgore’s first and only other appearance at QB with the Eskimos (6-6) came when Trevor Harris left early in the second quarter of a 33-17 loss to the Calgary Stampeders with an injury to his throwing arm on Sept. 7.

Kilgore stepped in and went 21-for-28 passing for 242 yards. With Harris now on the one-game injured list, he’ll face the East Division-leading Tiger-Cats (9-3), who are looking to bounce back after a 19-18 loss to Calgary, in his first career CFL start

Pressure? Not to hear Kilgore tell it.

“There’s no substitute for game experience,” Kilgore said when asked if coming in for Harris in Calgary takes some of the edge off facing Hamilton. “The more you can get, the more comfortable you feel and, more importantly, the more comfortable the guys around me feel.

“There’s subtle differences, trying to emulate everything cadence-wise and just communication-wise Trevor does. Luckily, we’ve been working hard all year just (in case) this would happen.”

While Kilgore, who holds on field goals, took reps at quarterback in both of Edmonton’s pre-season games, his relief appearance in Calgary was his first in a regular-season game since Oct. 2, 2016 as a member of the Toronto Argonauts. He came in for Drew Willy in a 38-11 loss to Montreal.

“It came down to watching Trevor throw the ball and knowing he wasn’t quite ready to play this week,” coach Jason Maas said. “We were trying to give him as many days off as possible knowing that’s what he needs. He needs time.

“It wasn’t up to par or up to snuff, so we decided to just shut him down and go with Logan. He (Harris) couldn’t go. I mean, that’s the thing. It didn’t matter what the game was. Trust me, this game is important.”

After stops as a backup with Toronto and Hamilton from 2014 to ’17, Kilgore spent 2018 coaching junior college in California. He accepted an invitation to camp from Edmonton last winter.

“It’s a great opportunity,” Kilgore said. “It’s funny because to the outside looking in, it’s basically if you haven’t played in a game, you haven’t played, but for anybody that’s in this building, you practise in football way more than you play games, right?

“In high school, it might be 10 games and you’re practising year-round. College, you get 12 to 14 if you go to a bowl game. We get 18 up here regular season and then more, so I feel like going against our defence every day in practice, they’re as good as it gets, in my opinion. We practise with such high intensity. I think that has really paid dividends for me.”
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TORONTO – The Calgary Stampeders will be minus two key performers for their game Friday night against the Toronto Argonauts.

Receiver Reginald Begelton and middle linebacker Cory Greenwood, both starters with Calgary (8-4), will be out for the game against Toronto (2-9) at BMO Field.

Begelton leads the CFL in receiving yards (1,036), is second in touchdowns (seven) and third in catches (72).

Greenwood, a native of Kingston, Ont., leads the league in tackles (79).

Aaron Peck will take Begelton’s spot while Nate Holley will replace Greenwood. Both are American players.

Calgary will chase a fourth straight win while Toronto is coming off a 46-17 road victory over Ottawa on Sept. 7.
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TORONTO – It seems as McLeod Bethel-Thompson goes, so go the Toronto Argonauts.

After starting the season 0-6, Toronto has gone 2-3 in its last five games. Following early struggles as the Argos’ starting quarterback, Bethel-Thompson has significantly cleaned up his game and is now playing his best football of the season.

Toronto (2-9) chases a second straight win Friday night when it faces the reigning Grey Cup-champion Calgary Stampeders (8-4) at BMO Field.

Bethel-Thompson is 2-7 as Toronto’s starter. But after throwing more interceptions (eight) than TDs (six) through his first four starts, Bethel-Thompson has 12 touchdown strikes against just two interceptions in his last five.

“That’s two interceptions too many,” Bethel-Thompson said Thursday. “My job is to protect this team and put it in position to win and that can’t happen with interceptions.

“(On Friday), I’ve got to protect the football. I think we’re playing better football than we were earlier in the season, for sure. We’re just more of a cohesive unit and not shooting ourselves in the foot.”

Bethel-Thompson has multiple TD passes in five straight games and cracked the 300-yard passing plateau in four of them. He’s also engineered 14 touchdown drives in Toronto’s last five games with the Argos’ offence averaging 418 net yards over that span.

Bethel-Thompson leads the CFL in TD passes (19) and stands second in passing (3,004 yards).

Calgary is 3-0 since starting quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell’s return and the ’18 CFL/Grey Cup MVP hasn’t been sacked in those contests. What’s more, Mitchell boasts a 10-0 career record against Toronto and the Stampeders have won 11 straight against the Argos.

Calgary hasn’t lost in Toronto since 2012 – a stretch of six games. But on Friday night, the Stampeders will be without slotback Reginald Begelton and Canadian middle linebacker Cory Greenwood due to injury.

Begelton has a CFL-best 1,036 receiving yards and seven TDs on 72 catches while Greenwood, of Kingston, Ont., leads the league in tackles (79).

“Bo is one of the top quarterbacks in the league, everybody knows that,” said Argos defensive tackle Cleyon Laing. “The last time we played them we were able to get to the quarterback four times.

“It wasn’t Bo back there but it’s the same linemen protecting him. If we can do our job, get some pressure on him and make him uncomfortable, we should be able to get it done.”
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SURREY, B.C. – Amid a disappointing season for the B.C. Lions, Mike Reilly is accomplishing a feat unrivalled by his colleagues across the league – he’s staying healthy.

Due to a spate of injuries in the CFL – the latest being suffered by Edmonton’s Trevor Harris, who will miss Friday’s game against Hamilton with an upper-body ailment – this week Reilly is set to become the lone pivot to start every game for his team this season.

“I’m probably just hard headed,” the 34-year-old Reilly said of his durability on Thursday.

Staying healthy hasn’t been easy for the veteran quarterback this year. The Lions have been under siege since the beginning of the season, allowing more sacks than any other team (45) en route to the worst record in the league (2-10).

At times, the physical toll has threatened to take Reilly out of commission. He suffered an apparent ankle injury in a 35-34 loss to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Aug. 10 but was back practising with his teammates just two days later.

Despite being hit more than any other quarterback in the league, Reilly has maintained solid passing numbers, throwing for 2,953 yards, 12 touchdowns and 13 interceptions in 12 games.

Only Edmonton’s Harris and Toronto’s McLeod Bethel-Thompson have more yards, with 3,706 and 3,004 respectively.

Reilly, who will be back behind centre Saturday in Ottawa against the Redblacks, admits that a slow start to his career plays a part in his unwillingness to nurse an ailment on the sidelines.

He spent three years backing up former Lions quarterback Travis Lulay before getting his first shot at a starting job in Edmonton in 2013. Sitting on the sidelines, he decided he would never let small aches or pains take him out of a game.

“That’s just how I’ve always approached it,” Reilly said. “I appreciate every time that I get to line up and take a snap and play this game. And I’ll never take that for granted.”

When he signed a four-year, $2.9-million deal with the Lions in February, the club knew it was getting “an ironman,” said B.C. coach DeVone Claybrooks.

(Canadian Press)