Colts host Winnipeg this Sunday for home opener

The streets of Calgary were jammed with buses this week and mercifully none were earmarked for Shouldice Park to pick up the Calgary Colts.

For the first time since the Prairie Football Conference season started three weeks ago, the Colts won’t be heading out on the road.

They welcome their home opener Sunday, September 8 as the Winnipeg Rifles stop off at McMahon Stadium. Game time is 1 p.m.

“It’s exciting,” quarterback Kiefer Olson said. “We’ve been getting on the bus every week so far so to have four in a row at home is good.

“Travelling is wearing us out.”

The Colts return home with a disappointing 0-3 record. The Rifles, who had last weekend off, are 0-2.

Those records mean a victory is not only desired by both teams, but needed.

“You’ve obviously got to be in the top four, so you’ve got to get ahead of two teams, so we have to start this weekend. This is our first crack at it,” Colts head coach John Stevens said.

Leading the Colts will be tough running Cam Fox, who rushed for 310 yards in a loss to the Edmonton Wildcats last Sunday. It was the fifth best single-game rushing performance in PFC history and just two yards shy of a top 10 regular season rushing game in Canadian Junior Football Conference history.

The third-year back gives the Colts an offensive threat that the Rifles will be spending time talking about.

“(Cam) knows the system and he reads the blocks very well,” Stevens said. “He’s one of those backs that would just as soon run through you than run around you.

“He’s a powerful guy who demonstrated last Saturday that when he gets outside he can beat a lot of defenders.”

Stevens noted that Fox’s performance came behind an offensive line that was featuring three players who are new to the starting lineup — Shane Richards, Stephane Hollinger and Matt Baldwin.

“It says a lot about their preparation and their ability to open holes and I was really proud of the fact that group of offensive line was able to have that kind of day.”

Olson will make his second start at quarterback. He was 11 of 25 for 125 yards against the Huskies last weekend with three interceptions. His primary receiver was Richard Sawatsky, who had five catches for 65 yards.

The Colts other home games this month are against the Wildcats on September 15 and the Regina Thunder on September 22.