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While most of the few hundred fans in attendance at McMahon Stadium last Saturday were cursing the miserable conditions, a small, huddled group of about 20-strong who kept dry under an overhang at the top of the stands will remember it as a beautiful day.
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Those Calgary residents were family members and friends of Daniel Okpoko, a second-year Ottawa Redblacks player who registered his first CFL sack while playing, by his estimation, a career-high 32-34 defensive snaps.
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“It was amazing. I’ve been waiting a long time for that one,” Okpoko said of the sack. “To get it in front of my mom, brother, sister …. it felt so nice.”
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Okpoko, who the Redblacks selected in the second-round pick (11th overall) of the 2024 Canadian College Draft, is a seasoned veteran compared to Muftah Ageli, another defensive lineman who was Ottawa’s fourth-round pick (33rd overall) this year.
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Still a couple of weeks from his 22nd birthday, the former Windsor Lancer was making his CFL debut.
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Ageli’s time in the game was short but impactful.
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“Muftah only got five snaps in the game before he got his concussion, but he did a good job,” said head coach Bob Dyce.
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“Five snaps, one sack, and it was by being disciplined. Because if he wasn’t in the lane he needed to be, he wouldn’t have gotten that sack.”
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The Redblacks only have three sacks as a team through three games, and Okpoko and Ageli are prime examples of the Canadians who have stepped up to make big plays on a shorthanded roster.
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How shorthanded?
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The loss of Ageli means the Redblacks have 14 players on their one-game injury list and three more on the six-game.
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Of the 17 players, 12 are Canadians.
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Yet Ottawa is still considered a 2.5