Winning and Building Momentum Front of Mind For Ticats on Friday

With results, including their own loss to Winnipeg, turning against them the past two weeks, the Ticats will miss the playoffs for the first time in seven years, but head coach Scott Milanovich says it will be business as usual for the home finale Friday night against Calgary and the season curtain-dropper in Ottawa a week later.

The idea is to play to win and to use the players who best fit that goal, although Milanovich does concede he hopes he can find time for No. 2 quarterback Taylor Powell to have some reps.

“There’s momentum that can be built at the end of the season, whether you win a Grey Cup or don’t make the playoffs,” Milanovich said, “I’ve been part of a situation like this where the following season we took off. I think that’s important.

“I talk to the players about it. There’s a lot of people, a lot of players, who’ve been here a number of years, who are Ticat lifers and they need to respect that. We understand that in the CFL with free agency this team won’t look the same as it does right now. And maybe some guys go to the NFL. But there’s a certain amount of respect that needs to be shown the players who will be here, the staff who will be here, the ticket sellers who’ve been here 20 years. It’s just the right thing to do. If a player is worth his salt the fact that we’re not in the playoffs is not a factor.

“We’re trying to win. The one thing I would like to do is get Taylor some reps. I don’t have a plan and he may not play in the next two games but other than that…He had a great camp and it’s hard to develop quarterbacks so I don’t know what that looks like: he might not play; I’m making no promises. But other than him we’re playing the best guys who are available.”

Milanovich, undrafted by the NFL after a record-setting career at Maryland, was the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ third-string quarterback in 1996 when the franchise was at its lowest point. It was Tony Dungy’s first year as a head coach and they started 0-5 and reached 1-8 before turning it around—much like the Ticats since late August—with a 5-2 finish. The next year they started 5-0 and were in the playoffs the following two years. Milanovich had gone to Cleveland in an expansion draft but returned to the Bucs as a backup to rookie quarterback Shaun King and Tampa Bay came within a half minute—a late controversial call ended their season in the 1999 NFC final—of going to the Super Bowl and he referenced that today.

“I watched that confidence grow in that football team I was part of and I’ve seen that happen here. And what I don’t want to have happen here is a lull where we lose what we’ve started building over the past six weeks. I want to take that to the off-season and into training camp.

“There was a real disappointment here. We understood the circumstances but we still believed that we would win out and have the opportunity to do it together. Yeah, there was a disappointment and that hurts but I also think that more than 90 percent of the guys in that locker room are buying into what’s going on and want to be a part of this and I just don’t think we’ll let down.

“If you have to entice a player to play well in this game you probably don’t want him. That’s the same with staff, coaches, whoever. If you can’t be a pro, do your job, compete, even when the end goal is not in sight then we probably don’t want you here.”

Ante Litre, the thoughtful fullback, short-yardage quarterback and special teams star, echoed his coach’s sentiment that the time would come out firing in both games, striving to win them both. As he often does, he talked about the inner joy of playing the game as its own reward, reminiscing about the pleasure of playing five-on-five touch football on a concrete parking lot during 30-minute elementary school lunches in his native Vancouver and how football is still a “young person’s game.

“I think from a personal standpoint this is when you find out how much you love this sport. When your future is dim and there is nothing to necessarily fight for, you’re going to find meaning in this. You’re going to fight forward.

I’m really excited to get after this. With us missing the playoffs, it’s so narrow: it came down to Ottawa having a tie game. If things panned out differently last week and over the bye week we were in a position for contending for a home playoff spot. I’d like to finish the season on our terms, winning out.

“You can’t pursue a Grey Cup in our position but it’s still an unbelievable sport. The stakes are a bit lower but it’s a worthy endeavour.”

While Bo Levi Mitchell has a chance to become the first CFL player since 2018 to reach 5,000 passing yards  and receivers Tim White (998), Steven Dunbar Jr. (833)  and Kiondré Smith (809) have the potential to record 1,000-yard seasons, Milanovich said he “won’t be using a calculator on the sidelines.”

He wants those players to reach the milestones—as Litre does—but adds, “We have a larger purpose which is to win. Those guys are close to those numbers for a reason because they’ve been productive. They’re a big part of our offence and there’s the same thing on defence. But I won’t try to force that.”