Calgary Rage ready for a 'Fearless' semi-finals battle, their first post-pandemic

Calgary Rage ready for playoff showdown The Calgary Rage are headed back to the playoffs after a two year pandemic hiatus. Glenn Campbell reports.

The Calgary Rage are set to tackle an unfamiliar opponent on Saturday that stands in their way of a berth in the league finals.

The Rage, who finished the regular season with a 3-1 record, will host the Manitoba Fearless at Shouldice Park in the Western Women's Canadian Football League semi-finals.

"They're an athletic team and we've never faced them so there's a lot of question marks going into this game," said quarterback Erin Walton of her Winnipeg-based opponent. "All we can do is be prepared and execute.  You know it (comes) down to execution and trust in what we're doing and confidence that we can get the job done."

HOME FIELD ADVANTAGE

Kickoff for Saturday's game will be at 2:00 p.m. at Shouldice and the Rage will look to make the most of their home field advantage.

"Oh it's huge to play in Calgary.  Home field and to not have to travel," said defensive back Tatrina Medvesak said. "Just be prepared to have our fans out and our support systems here.  It's going to be amazing for sure to play the sport we love."

FIRED UP

The Rage returned to the football field this season after the league went on hiatus for two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. After having your sport taken away from you, the players realized how much they love the game.

Head coach Keith Crawford believes his team is raring to go on both sides of the ball.

"The team is really fired up.  I mean we understand what we have to do to win this game," said Crawford. "It's almost like a history maker for us.  We have been to this championship game one other time but we didn't do well in that game.  Since then, and before then, we've never even been close to the championship game so they're pretty fired up and so are the coaches.  We've planned well for it and I think on Saturday you're going to see a pretty strong offensive and defensive team."

The winner of Saturday's game will advance to the league final which will be played on June 25 in Saskatoon.