New signing Bailey Hale will compete this week with remnants Jimmy Camacho and Nick Vogel for kicking duties in Friday’s crucial game against the Calgary Stampeders.
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The BC Lions could have a different fourth kicker this season on Friday.
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Newcomer Bailey Hale was in practice in Surrey on Monday and will duel all week with Jimmy Camacho and Nick Vogel to determine who has a chance to shoot field goals and single-point conversions when the Lions (4- 8) Try to keep their lean The playoffs await alive against the visiting Calgary Stampeders (6-6) at BC Place Stadium in the penultimate week of the CFL season.
Camacho replaced Takeru Yamasaki in August after Yamasaki was 4-of-8 on shooting from the field in BC’s first two games. Vogel replaced Camacho last week after Camacho followed his 10-for-10 start in field goals with a 4-for-10, including a three-miss night in a 31-29 overtime loss to the Toronto Argonauts on April 30. October.
Vogel was 2-for-2 on shooting from the field in a 26-18 loss to host Hamilton Tiger-Cats last Friday, but he also missed both converts, raising questions from the kicker.
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The Lions got 25 seasons off kicker Lui Passaglia back in the day. There are members of the current fanbase who would have trouble reconciling that right now.
“How strange is this? It’s totally weird, ”Lions coach Rick Campbell said Monday of the kickers showdown at this point in the season. “You don’t want to be doing that when you’re trying to get a playoff spot, but it is what it is.
“We are solving it. We have a competition this week and we will decide at the end of the week. Let the best man win. “
The Lions’ success rate of 66.7 percent (20 of 30) on shooting from the field this season leaves them eighth in the CFL out of nine teams in that category, ahead only of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and their 59.4 percent (19 of 32). And the (11-1) -headed Bombers lead the league in several other categories.
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The kicking game is just one reason the Lions have lost six games in a row and are in danger of missing the playoffs. The offense has faded in sections; The Lions scored just 19 points in a three-game stretch that included the club’s first shutout loss since 1970 in a 45-0 setback to the Blue Bombers on Oct. 23.
The defense hasn’t been able to make much-needed stops on points, such as in the 31-24 loss to the Saskatchewan Roughriders on Sept. 24 that started this streak.
The Lions have played better in every facet the last two weeks, but it wasn’t enough to win, and now they need to beat Stampeders and Edmonton Elks (2-9) in their regular season finale on Nov. 19 at BC Place and then , Calgary will fall to visit Winnipeg in its last game on November 20 to reach the playoffs.
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NEXT GAME
Friday
Calgary Stampeders at BC Lions
7:30 pm, BC Place Stadium. TV: TSN. RADIO: AM 730.
Two BC wins and two Calgary losses would give the Lions the head-to-head tiebreaker. Winnipeg could end up resting players against Calgary in that final week; Winnipeg losing this Saturday to the Montreal Alouettes (6-6) and not wanting to enter the playoffs with two consecutive losses could be the best scenario for BC in that sense.
“The last two weeks we’ve been doing some things better and there is even more room for improvement,” Campbell said. “I think if we can play with the effort and spirit that we’ve had the last two weeks mixed with an even better game, I think we can compete with anyone.
“We lost a couple of very close matches. The ones that come to mind are the Saskatchewan game here and the Toronto game. It shows you the fine line between success and failure. When you lose games like that, you have to be tough and good enough to get through that and we haven’t been doing it right now, but we have one more chance this week against Calgary to take it into the final week of the season. “
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Calgary enters the games as a winner of four of five, including a 39-10 decision over the Lions at BC Place on October 16. BC won in Calgary on August 12.
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“They have been playing hard and fast. They obviously have a good quarterback (Bo Levi Mitchell) and they are well trained, but there’s no reason we can’t play with those guys, ”Campbell said.
Hale, 24, has completed her mandatory COVID-19 protocols, according to the Lions. That allows you to practice with the team.
Hale transferred from eastern New Mexico to Louisiana Tech for his final two years of NCAA eligibility (2018-19). In 26 games, he was good at 30 of 40 field goals and all but one of his 92 conversions.
There were media reports that Hale, who is from Iowa Park, Texas, worked for the Cleveland Browns in March.
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Reference-theprovince.com