It’s time to answer the bell.

Do-or-die.

The Stampeders will battle the Winnipeg Blue Bombers Sunday for a ticket to the Grey Cup, duking it out in the Western Final at McMahon Stadium at 2:30 pm.

The Red & White are coming off a playoff bye, which they earned when they downed the BC Lions 26-9 on Nov. 3 to clinch top spot in the division.

It was just what they needed after a slow end to the regular season.

“The hardest part for us was getting through that lull when we were losing games at the end,” said offensive lineman Derek Dennis. “But I think now this is the time of year where our team thrives.”

The Bombers earned their berth in the West Final by defeating the Saskatchewan Roughriders 23-18 – a victory in which running back Andrew Harris rushed for 153 yards.

Safe to say he’ll be one of the bigger concerns for the Stampeders this weekend.

“You have to limit their plays and get them off the field,” said head coach Dave Dickenson.

“That’s when we’ve been in trouble defensively is when we’re on the field too much. Teams start figuring us out a little bit … but we’ve got a good front, great tacklers – especially our linebackers. Our backend has to cover, but they also have to tackle, too. You have to tackle as a group of twelve and if we do that we’ll have a good day.”

It’s not just Harris that poses a threat, either.

“They’ve got good athletes, they’re versatile,” Dickenson explained. “They’ve got guys who can play multiple things … Andrew (Harris) could play receiver in this league probably, Nic Demski has done a nice job, Weston Dressler’s doing lots of different things, so you can’t really just key in on one thing.

“You just have to play with your eyes; see what you see, attack, try to keep big plays down and harass their quarterback. It’s a pretty simple formula if you can do it – it’s just tough to do.”

What makes it easier, though, is coming out on top of the one-on-one battles on the line of scrimmage.

“It’s going to be a tough battle, but the guys knew what it was coming into it,” said defensive line coach Corey Mace. “This time of year it really doesn’t matter who you’re playing, you know in those trenches it’s going to be a war, these guys are battle tested, and they’re ready to rock.”

For the Stamps defence, it’s the little things that will make the biggest impact come Sunday.

“Just always fine tuning the details of the game plan,” said Mace. “Learning from the games we’ve played against them and just really focusing on those details.

“Those are sometimes the things that slip and those are the things that will cost you this time of year.”

“I just think guys being technically sound,” agreed defensive lineman Micah Johnson. “Everybody being in the gap and preaching to everybody to do their job. I think a lot of times guys try to do too much, try to make too many plays, and sometimes leave the defence exposed.”

Offensively, the plan in simple.

“We need ball control,” said Dickenson “I do think that when we win the time of possession and turnover battle we’re tough to beat, so those will be two stats I’d look for at the end of the game, if we win those I like our chances.”

“I think short yardage, second, two-to-three yards – who can win that battle is going to play into who will win this game.”

Additions to this week’s 46-man roster are Adam Thibault, Eric Rogers, and Romar Morris. The subtractions will be Bakari Grant, Maleki Harris, Terry Williams.