Separated by a three-hour stretch of the Queen Elizabeth II Highway and united by six decades of gridiron rivalry, the Calgary Stampeders and Edmonton Eskimos certainly need no introductions to each other.

That applies to late-fall football. Starting with a Western Interprovincial Football Union playoff clash in 1952, Edmonton has been the Stampeders’ most frequent post-season opponent. Sunday’s West Division Semi-Final at McMahon Stadium represents the 20th playoff meeting between the Stampeders and the Eskimos.

Saskatchewan is the Stamps’ second-most frequent playoff opponent with 15 meetings followed by BC with 10 and Winnipeg with seven.

As far the post-season edition of the Battle of Alberta is concerned, the Eskimos had the advantage in the first meeting, winning a two-game, total-point series 42-38 but since then the matchup has been dead even with nine victories apiece.

At one point, the Eskimos dominated the all-time playoff series 7-3 but the Stampeders have won six of the nine most recent playoff encounters starting with a memorable affair at Edmonton’s Commonwealth Stadium in 1991. That was the game Danny Barrett hit Pee Wee Smith with a late game-winning 67-yard touchdown pass and Smith ran right through the end-zone and into the locker-room.

The Stamps overcame a 26-15 halftime deficit and scored 20 fourth-quarter points in that 1991 tilt to win their first playoff game at Commonwealth Stadium since 1970.

A glimpse at the playoff history between the Red and White and the Green and Gold:

* Two-game, total-point series
** The 1995 meeting was for the North Division title