Riders’ Ed Gainey looking forward to facing friend, high school rival

Ed Gainey could have some flashbacks to his high school football days when he lines up against B.C. Lions quarterback Danny O’Brien on Friday.

The Saskatchewan Roughriders defensive back played at Mount Tabor High School in Winston-Salem, N.C. O’Brien played at East Forsyth High School in Kernersville, N.C., which is located just outside of Winston-Salem.

“We ran the city,” Gainey said with a laugh Tuesday. “(East Forsyth) was good for a couple of years but it was all us.”

Gainey said he played O’Brien twice, with his school walking out victorious both times — but that’s not to say things weren’t close.

“I think his senior year was the year they did really good; they almost beat us but we pulled it out in the end,” Gainey recalled.

O’Brien is to make his first start of the 2019 CFL season against the Roughriders because quarterback Mike Reilly suffered a season-ending left wrist injury in a 19-6 loss to the Edmonton Eskimos on the weekend.

Reilly was the last of the Day 1 starting quarterbacks to not miss any time before he suffered the injury.

Kickoff for Friday’s game at BC Place Stadium is set for 8 p.m.

Gainey said he used to train with O’Brien during his first couple of off-seasons in the CFL.

“I’m very familiar with him and he’s one of my good friends and hopefully I get the best of him come this weekend,” Gainey said.

While the Lions will be without Reilly on the field, Roughriders head coach Craig Dickenson said Reilly’s leadership will still be felt within the B.C. squad.

“That’s the one thing he brings every day, even if he’s not playing. His toughness and his charisma and his natural leadership characteristics shine through,” Dickenson said. “But they won’t get his play, which will hurt them.”

Dickenson was a member of the Eskimos’ coaching staff in 2014 and ’15 and won a Grey Cup with the Reilly-led Eskimos in 2015.

Even though Reilly won’t be slinging the ball for the Lions, Dickenson said the Roughriders need to be diligent in their preparations against the Lions’ backup.

“(O’Brien) is a good player too. We will have to play well to beat him and I’m sure he’s anxious to get out there and prove what he can do as well,” Dickenson said.

Another player who knows what the Lions are getting with O’Brien is running back William Powell.

Powell spent four seasons with the Ottawa Redblacks before signing with the Roughriders this year. Two of those seasons (2015-16) he shared with O’Brien, who was a backup with the Redblacks.

“He’ll be ready to play. He’s going to do his due diligence off the field and in the classroom and study our defence,” Powell said. “He’ll be well-prepared so we’ve got to be the same.”

Powell said O’Brien’s composure is the 29-year-old quarterback’s biggest strength.

“He’ll never get too flustered so that helps quarterbacks a lot,” Powell said.

But after the game is said and done, Gainey is hoping his third interception of the season comes at the expense of his friend.

“The trash-talking is going to carry on into the next season so I don’t want to be on the short end of the stick,” Gainey said.

Notes: Linebacker Cam Judge (concussion) is expected to be in Saskatchewan’s lineup on Friday. He didn’t play Friday against the Calgary Stampeders … Defensive lineman Micah Johnson (ankle) missed his second straight practice Tuesday … Guard Philip Blake (leg) practised once again. Dickenson said Blake’s status is still to be determined … The Green Zone pre-game show gets underway at 6 p.m. on Friday.