VANCOUVER – At a time when most players are focused on what they want, B.C. Lions defensive back Tad Kornegay knows what he hopes to avoid.
Kornegay will be playing in his fourth Grey Cup in five years when the Lions face the Winnipeg Blue Bombers Sunday at B.C. Place. He still feels the pain and frustration of the Saskatchewan Roughriders suffering back-to-back loses against the Montreal Alouettes.
Especially heartbreaking was the 2009 game which was decided when the Riders took a too-many-men penalty which allowed the Alouettes to kick the winning field goal.
“They were loses,” Kornegay said Wednesday after the Lions held a long practice under the closed roof at BC Place. “I definitely don’t want to lose another Grey Cup.
“I will do what ever it takes to make sure we come out with the win. That’s going to be in the back of my mind.”
It was the addition of players like Kornegay, slotback Arland Bruce and defensive back Jerome Dennis which helped B.C. stop a 1-6 losing skid. The Lions won 10 of their last 11 regular-season games to finish first in the West, then beat the Edmonton Eskimos in last weekend’s West Final.
“I knew we had the potential,” said Kornegay, who joined the Lions in August after being released by the Riders.
“I knew once I got here I was the missing piece to the puzzle they had. They weren’t losing because they weren’t a good team. They just had some minor things that needed to be corrected and guys in the wrong position. I knew when I got here guys could move back to their normal positions and play the way they usually play.”
The Lions started the season 0-5 and their secondary was a revolving door. Injuries sidelined players like cornerback Davis Sanchez and defensive half back Stanley Franks. That forced B.C. to play rookie cornerback Travis Williams and sophomore half back David Hyland.
Kornegay, a seven-year veteran who broke into the league with Hamilton and won a Grey Cup with Saskatchewan in 2007, brought veteran experience and stability. The Lions won the first game he dressed for, against the Riders.
“He’s an energy guy,” said cornerback Dante Marsh. “It made the cohesiveness of the group finally get stabilized.
“He’s been there and done that. He knows what he’s doing.”
Wally Buono, the Lions coach and general manager, said a losing team quickly becomes stale, like bread left too long on the counter.
“Tad brings a certain confidence,” said Buono. “He’s a veteran. He’s been there a million times. It helped bring a freshness.”
The five-foot-10, 185-pound native of Trenton, N.J., had 36 tackles this year and two interceptions.
He became part of a snarling Lions defence that has chewed up offences the last half of the season.
In B.C.’s 40-23 win over Edmonton in the West Final the Lions held the Eskimos to just four first downs in the first half and didn’t give up a touchdown until the fourth quarter when the game was already decided. The Lions defence forced four turnovers, which created 21 points.
During the season B.C. allowed 385 points, the fewest in the CFL. The Lions’ 54 sacks was one less than Winnipeg’s league-leading 55. Of the CFL’s 25 team defensive statistics the Lions were first or second in 17.
The Lions held opponents to six points or less four times this year and went a stretch of 13 quarters where the only touchdown allowed came on a kickoff return.
While impressive, Marsh said none of that will matter Sunday when B.C. plays a Bomber team that beat them twice during the regular season.
“We just have to play B.C. Lions football,” said Marsh. “There is no magic potion we can drink.
“Anything that has happened previously this year has no bearing on Sunday. It’s a brand new season. The emotions will be higher, the atmosphere will be more electric. The ramifications of the game are huge, but it’s just another football game. ”
The Bomber defence adopted the name Swaggerville this season. They like to talk big, then back up their boasts with bruising hits and key turnovers.
Kornegay said the Lions will do their talking on the field.
“We’ll let Winnipeg be Winnipeg,” he said.
“That doesn’t bother us, that doesn’t motivate us. That is them being them. We’re just the B.C. Lions. We will keep doing what we have been doing. That has been our game before and it’s going to be our game now.”
It’s been a roller-coaster year for Kornegay. He was upset over his sudden release by the Riders.
“Something like that can end your career,” said the 29-year-old.
He now finds himself playing in another Grey Cup, on a team that looked headed for disaster after a terrible start.
B.C. has a chance to become the first team since the 1994 Lions to win a Grey Cup at home.
“It would be surreal,” said Kornegay. “It would be great for the organization, for the city, for all of us.
“Just for the things we went through, the things I went through. Everybody would come out on top. It would be probably talked about forever.”
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