Defensive back Otha Foster III was solid in his 2018 regular season debut and the B.C. Lions defeated the Montreal Alouettes, 22-10, at home Saturday.
Foster is in his fifth year in the Canadian Football League and first with the Lions. The 2006 Varnado High School graduate made five tackles and a sack to begin his season.
In correlation to football here, Foster said his position is like a “roll down strong safety.” He said his position has a lot of responsibility, but it is also a lot of fun.
He talked about his play from Saturday.
“I had a solid game,” Foster said. There’s always room for improvement, but I felt like I had a solid game of tackling and reading my keys. I also got like three hits on the quarterback and one sack. Anytime I get to hit the quarterback, it’s a plus.”
Things got off to a rough start for B.C. The Lions punted and Montreal drove 82 yards in 11 plays and scored a touchdown and had a 7-0 lead after its first possession.
B.C. tied the game at 7-7, but then Montreal added a field goal to go up, 10-7, which was the score after the first period.
The Lions pitched a shutout following the field goal.
“It was my first game playing with the B.C. Lions. New stadium, new team and new atmosphere. It was our home opener. Even though I’ve been in the league for five years, you get still anxious and those first game jitters,” Foster said. “The first drive was a little rocky. We had some penalties and some miscommunication and we allowed a touchdown. It was like, ‘oh, we started off bad.’ But we settled down and we only allowed a field goal for the rest of the game. It was a solid game for our defense.”
Foster played two years each with the Edmonton Eskimos and Saskatchewan Roughriders, respectively.
Foster said he is enjoying his time in British Columbia.
“I’ve loved it so far. Being here for a little more than a month, I feel like we have a solid team,” Foster said. “We have solid players at every position. We’ve come together as a team. That’s what we had when I won the Grey Cup (with the Edmonton Eskimos in 2015). We had a solid team and a locker room of guys that could hang around outside of the locker room. We’ve also got a group of veteran guys that knows what it takes to win.”
B.C. has its first of two bye weeks this week in the 18-game season.
The Lions are back in action Friday, June 29, when they travel to Edmonton to play the Eskimos. Both teams are in the West Division.
Edmonton won its opener over Winnipeg, 33-30, which is also in the West Division. The division posted a 4-1 record. Edmonton hosts Hamilton on Friday.