Nov
Labinjo dominating presence
Courtesy Toronto Star:
Mike Labinjo remembers the aftermath of making the tackle on the opening kickoff of Super Bowl XXXIX.
“I almost hyperventilated on the sidelines I was so excited,” he said yesterday. “This time, I’ll know what to do.”
Then, Labinjo was a backup linebacker for the Philadelphia Eagles, who lost that day in Jacksonville to the New England Patriots.
Next Sunday, it will be Labinjo playing for the Calgary Stampeders as they meet the Montreal Alouettes in the 96th Grey Cup. Three years have passed between “big games” for Labinjo, 27, but this time he’s had a lot more to do with the outcome.
A Toronto lad who didn’t play football until he enrolled for Grade 9 at St. Michael’s College School, Labinjo will seek to wreak havoc on Montreal quarterback Anthony Calvillo and the rest of the Alouettes offence from the rush end position, a slot most CFL teams reserve for import players.
On Saturday, he had one of those unforgettable games, a Lawrence Taylor-like explosion as he nearly single-handedly destroyed the chances of the B.C. Lions to advance to the Grey Cup.
There were three sacks, eight tackles and a forced fumble in the third quarter on backup B.C. quarterback Jarious Jackson as he tried to run the final few yards into the Calgary end zone.
The Stamps recovered the ball, but a few plays later Calgary’s Henry Burris tossed the ball into the arms of Lions defensive back Corey Banks, who ran the ball all the way to the Stampeders’ one-yard line.
It was Burris’s eighth interception in four playoff games and all the ghosts of recent Calgary playoff setbacks began to swirl around McMahon Stadium. Instead, however, Labinjo made two big hits on B.C. running back Ian Smart, forcing the Lions to kick another field goal on a day they never did manage to score a touchdown. “That game was something special for me,” Labinjo told the Star yesterday. “I’ve never had a game where I altered the outcome like that.”
It was a performance the football world should have seen coming, for Labinjo has steadily been increasing his impact on the field since joining the Stamps partway through last season and is a big part of Calgary’s march to the Grey Cup game.
