Star-Phoenix from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada • 15

the cOTerenee for: Esks unitian ii iyi i i.iji Mniuqjwuiiinuii ijui i mil, i ij. if i EDMONTON (CP) The temperature was' -18 Celsius cold enough to result in the smallest CFL crowd ever in Commonwealth Stadium, 24,064 but Edmonton quarterback Matt Dunigan was more than warm; he was positively hot. "Cold? I was warm out there," he said with a widening grin after running for 113 yards and two touchdowns to lead the Eskimos to a 27-18 victory over the Calgary Stampeders in CFL Western semi-final play Sunday. hands weren't cold, my legs weren't cold. I never went near the heaters." The Eskimos, who finished first in the regular season, will play the B.C.

Lions in the Western final next Sunday in Edmonton. Dunigan has enjoyed some of his best games this season against Calgary and Sunday was no different. He completed 20 of 29 passes for 238 yards without giving up an interception. Four times he masterminded scoring drives of more than 60 yards, including two key ones in the second half. Calgary trailed by only seven points at halftime, but Dunigan started the third quarter with a nine-play, 61-yard drive ending when he sneaked over from the three-yard line.

Later, when the Stampeders had reduced the lead to six from 14 points, Dunigan moved the Eskimos 65 yards in eight plays to set up Tom Dixon's fourth field goal that made the spread more than a converted touchdown. "They got the big plays at crucial times to keep drives alive and the guy you have to look at is Dunigan," said Calgary's Ber-nie Morrison. "He makes them a much better football team and that's what it comes down to." Dunigan, wearing his game star hat, said the offence "just went out there and executed." At times, however, the offence yul '''t'' -K'y CP Eskimos Stewart Hill sacks Calgary quarterback Jeff Tedford SECTION James Zachery. "It was cold and we knew if we hit them hard they wouldn't like it too much." How tough was it? By halftime Edmonton middle linebacker Dan Bass had a broken facemask and shoulder pad. Besides being physically tough, the Edmonton defence was relentless in its pass rush, recording five sacks, and was virtually un-crackable no matter what Calgary tried.

The Stampeders, who lost No. 1 quarterback Rick Johnson six minutes into the second quarter, managed only 57 rushing yards and 180 yards total offence. Edmonton ran for 194 yards and had total offence totalling 419 yards. Calgary's offence turned the ball over seven times, three by interceptions, two on fumbles and twice on failed third-down gambles. The hard hitting on both sides was evident by the number of players who limped off the field or had to be helped off.

The costliest injury was to Johnson, the No. 1-ranked quarterback in the CFL. He suffered a shoulder injury didn't execute too well the offence fumbled seven times and lost five of them, all in the Edmonton side of the field. "Well, you can't get down on yourself, you have to just roll with the waves," Dunigan said of the miscues that led to 11 of Calgary's points. Despite those turnovers, the Stampeders couldn't take full advantage of their opportunities because of a stubborn, hard-hitting Edmonton defence.

"It was physical and that's the way we planned it," said tackle Star-Phoenix Saskatoon, Saskatchewan Monday, Nov. 17, 1986 Today's trivia Name the two WHL players to have scored six goals in one game this season. (Answer tomorrow) Saturday's answer: Ottawa Sooners have won the 'i Canadian junior football final three times. 'mm 5 At a glance FOOTBALL CFL Western Semi-Finals Sunday Edmonton 27 Calgary 18 Saturday B.C, 21 Winnipeg 14 Eastern Final Sunday Result Toronto 31 Hamilton 17 about six minutes into the second quarter. "I had no feeling in it for a while then I couldn't pull it back very far." Calgary trailed 13-3 at the time.

Jeff Tedford engineered 14 Calgary points, 12 on touchdown passes of four and 10 yards to Emanuel Tolbert, but he was never able to fully overcome the deficit. "It just wasn't in the cards for Jeff," said Calgary cach Bob Vespaziani. "We have no excuses, we played a good football team." Lions' defence digs in VANCOUVER (CP) The Mervyn Fernandez magic show performed by British Columbia in the first half against Winnipeg suddenly turned into a heroic goal-line stand by the defence that preserved the Lions' 21-14 victory Saturday over the Blue Bombers in the CFL playoffs. The fourth straight B.C. win this season over the Bombers gave the Lions a berth in the Western final Sunday.

"There's no rule which says you can't beat someone so many times," said Lions' end James Parker, a member of the goal-line defence. "Winnipeg has an excellent team, but we're at our peak, and the guys are playing well." So well, in fact, that the Lions survived their ultra-conservative offence in the second half after building a 21-point, halftime lead behind the brilliant, two-touchdown performance of wide receiver Fernandez. And it was the defence, as usual, that snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. Quarterback John Hufnagel marched the Bombers from the Winnipeg 27 to the B.C. four in three plays late in the fourth Suarter.

The Bombers had a first own, but three times running back Sean Kehoe was stopped short of the goal line by the stubborn B.C. defence. "We had the book on Kehoe, that he'd try to go inside instead of outside," Parker said. "We got in our goal-line defence, filled the gaps and the rest is history." The Lions will play in their fourth consecutive Western final on the basis of stopping Kehoe short of the goal line on third down from the one. Kehoe fumbled when hit by the trio of Parker, linebacker Tyrone Crews and-safety Nelson Martin, with tackle Mike Gray recovering in the end zone.

"Give the players credit because they were determined not to let Winnipeg score," B.C. coach Don Matthews said. "Defence has been winning for us for four years. Not many teams can march the ball up the field against our defence with the game on the line." Fernandez, the gifted receiver who is playing out his option, scored on a 16-yard reverse on the last play of the first quarter and again in the second quarter on a 51-yard pass from quarterback Roy Dewalt. "When Roy puts the ball on the money like that, there's no stopping us at times," said Fernandez.

"Now we're looking forward to finally playing someone else after seeing Winnipeg three straight weeks." Hufnagel got the turnover-plagued Winnipeg offence untracked in the fourth quarter and threw 13-yard scoring passes to Perry Tuttle and James Murphy. Trevor Kennerd added two conversions. Watts shines Page B3 v- NFL New Orleans 16 St. Louis 7 Green Bay 31 Tampa Bay.7 Chicago 13 Atlanta 10 Cincinnati 34 Seattle 7 Pittsburgh 21 Houston 10 Detroit 13 Philadelphia 11 Miami 34 Buffalo 24 NY Giants 22 Minnesota 20 Dallas 24 San Diego 21 NY Jets 31 Indianapolis 16 New England 30 LA Rams 28 Denver 38 Kansas City 17 LA Raiders 27 Cleveland 14 Canadian Junior Final Regina 53 Ottawa 12 Canadian University Vanier Cup Semi-finals Atlantic Bowl Western 29 Acadia 22 Central Bowl UBC 32 Bishop's 30 HOCKEY NKL Sunday Philadelphia 6 Washington 2 Winnipeg 3 NY Islanders 1 Edmonton 8 NY Rangers 6 Toronto 7 Chicago 3 Saturday Hartford 6 Edmonton 2 Pittsburgh 5 Quebec 2 New Jersey 5 Boston Montreal 4 Buffalo 2 Toronto 6 Detroit 0 NY Islanders 7 Minnesota 3 St. Louis 4 Chicago 3 Los Angeles 4 Calgary 1 WHL Sunday Moose Jaw 10 Brandon 3 Regina 10 Swift Current 4 Medicine Hat 4 Calgary 3 Kamloops 10 Spokane 5 New Westminster 5 Seattle 4 Saturday Medicine Hat 4 Saskatoon 3 Prince Albert 6 Moose Jaw 3 Portland 13 New West.

6 Swift Current 7 Brandon 4 Victoria 7 Seattle 1. Kamloops Spokane 3 Canada West Huskies 7 Brandon 1 CURLING Mid-Winter Classic Final McGeary 7 Kopach 5 Semi-finals McGeary 6 Lang 3 Kopach 9 Fahlman 8 2 S-P Photo by John Kenney Lori McGeary follows the path of her shot Vande helps McGeary clean house 010 010 ZOO 3-7 001 001 030 0 5 McGeary. Kopach come. I wanted to get a comer in the four-foot behind her rock because I thought it was the only hope we had." She ended up with shot rock in the four-foot but it was wide open. "I knew.it fell back a little bit there and you couldn't be wide on that shot," McGeary said of the successful nose hit for the win.

"I just wanted to get out on the broom and, if anything, be a little bit inside and it would be okay." It was, and McGeary had her first Classic title. Kopach and her supporting cast of Linda Horley, Ilia Davis and Gail Cooper pocketed $4,500. Extra end: McGeary advanced to the final with a 6-3 win over Laureen Lang of Saskatoon while Kopach upset favored Kathy Fahlman of Regina 9-8 in an extra end. After seven ends Kopach trailed Fahlman 5-4, but struck for four on the eighth. On the extra end, Kopach was spared throwing her last rock when Fahlman missed an all-or-nothing raise Lang and Fahlman earned $2,700 Other rinks to qualify were Carol Davis of Calgary, Heather McMillan and Heather Howard of Saskatoon and Deb Shermack of Edmonton.

By Len Roberts of the Star-Phoenix Patti Vande wasn't looking forward to the weekend. First, she intended to be a part of the Mid-Winter Curling But that wasn't going to happen because she was late re turning her entry, so her Winnipeg foursome was placed on the waiting list. She thought the best she could hope for was a late cancellation, but figured that wasn't likely with a total of $23,000 in prize money on the line. The only broom she envisioned was the one she would use to clean up after, the workers who had just finished drywalling the new house she is having built. But all it took was a phone call, and instead of cleaning up at home Vande was cleaning up at the Nutana Curling Club as a member of the Lori McGeary rink of Saskatoon.

McGeary 'won the fifth annual event with a last-rock 7-5 decision over Merle Ko-pach. "It's great and a super feeling," said Vande of the victory and the winner's share of $7,500. "I was just happy to be here. I told them if anybody needed a player, to let me know. Unfortunately Chris (Gervais) couldn't make it so I got a chance to play in it." Gervais, a regular on the McGeary rink which also has Gillian Thompson at third and Sheila Kavanagh at lead, couldn't be on hand for the big payday because she was accompanying the girls' volleyball team she coaches at E.D.

Feehan High School to the provincial playoffs in Swift Current. "I'm really pleased," said McGeary. "Some games were better than others, but overall we played pretty good throughout the weekend." In the final, the teams were tied 2-2 after six ends before McGeary appeared to take control with a deuce on the seventh. But just as she had been doing all weekend, Kopach made a clutch shot to punch McGeary's shot rock back far enough to count three and take a 5-4 lead. "The 10th just didn't go our way," Kopach said of the final end when she desperately tried to bury her final shot behind cover.

"I was trying to tuck it behind but it didn't.