Lowell Ullrich
The Vancouver Province

They are four enormous talents comprising one peerless unit. The men who play The Three Musketeers to Cameron Wake's D'Artagnan on the defensive line of the B.C. Lions live by that historical model, "All for one, one for all."

Still, tackles Aaron Hunt, Tyrone Williams and defensive end Brent Johnson took a reverential bow in the direction of Wake Saturday night in the aftermath of the Lions' 28-23 defeat of the Saskatchewan Roughriders.

The game ended, practically and symbolically, with Wake sacking Roughrider quarterback Michael Bishop to force a fumble on the final play, showing again that he is a player for the ages. It was the second sack on the evening for the defensive end from Penn State. The defensive player of the year has six in his past two games and Wake is within one of tying last year's league-leading total of 16 with seven games left.

An hour later, Hunt couldn't turn off the energy. Though he had two sacks himself and four tackles, he was raving about Wake's latest stellar play.

"When you're playing with Cam, you have to concentrate on what you're doing, because you could get caught up watching him," Hunt said. "He really is amazing. For one series, I'd like them to take me out so I can sit back and just watch him go to work. I'm not going off, however, so I guess I'll just have to watch him on film."

The Roughriders will be doing a lot of that this week as they salve their wounds and try and figure out a way to stop this steamrolling force for the rematch Saturday at Mosaic Stadium in Regina. Wake also has 14 tackles in his past two games and usually leaves behind a nasty set of bruises and depleted oxygen levels. It's a good thing there's seven days between games.

"Cam is out of this world," Johnson says. "It's ridiculous. It's not even fair. He's amazing. And I love it. When teams watch film, they must think, 'Well, we can't do anything about this.' The guys who try to block him must think of running for the hills."

But anyone who has followed the heated Lions-Roughriders rivalry over the past few years knows that's not going to happen.

The Roughriders are never defeated when there's still time on the clock. And they'll push back -- or initiate trouble -- with equal vigor.

Williams, who was laid out on the turf and had to be escorted off the field in the first half, says he was winded after being sucker-punched by Roughrider right tackle Glenn January.

"It was a classless act," Williams said. "He punched me in the stomach because he couldn't get off the line. If I punched somebody in the stomach every time I got held, I'd be a boxer. Glenn January is a coward. He should have been ejected."

Williams wants a video clip of the incident sent to CFL director of officiating Tom Higgins if only to make his point.

Playoff atmosphere? It's a term that gets thrown around loosely in sports, but the Lions' D-line, in particular, is developing that mindset. They're doing a better job of finishing games with ruthless authority.

"When you step out on the field of play, you have to play to win," Johnson says. "There were some [earlier] games when we just thought we'd step out there and take a win. Now, I don't think we take anything for granted. We're playing the way we should. I think we're really jelling. The guys who are coming [subbing] in -- Rick [Foley] and Matt Kirk . . . With them, there's no letup either."

Courtesy of: www.theprovince.com