The people you encounter at one point in time and someway, somehow, cross paths with again later in your life.

Ten years ago – on Dec. 13, 2014 – Illinois State (11-1) charged into Roos Field to take on Eastern Washington (11-2) in the NCAA FCS championship quarterfinal.

In his first season as the junior quarterback for the Redbirds after transferring from the Indiana Hoosiers, Tre Roberson piloted the program to an impressive 59-46 victory over Walter Payton award finalist Vernon Adams Jr. and the Eagles.

A decade later, the pair are sharing a locker-room north of the border.

One has moved around the CFL over his eight-year tenure and is about to embark on his first season as a Stampeder, on a mission to secure his first Grey Cup championship and ready to help lead the Red and White back to the organization’s winning ways.

And the other, a 2018 Grey Cup champion who has spent his entire CFL career in Calgary, but no longer extending drives with his legs and throwing balls in tight windows. Instead, the opposite, a veteran cornerback breaking up passes and taking balls the other way for six.

Although their respective football careers have taken them on wildly different journeys since that foggy December day in Cheney, Wash., the former duelling passers still have kept tabs on each other.

“We’ve always kept a close eye on each other, we’ve got a weird connection,” admitted Roberson. “When he was with Montreal, I direct messaged him and told him, ‘You’re a hell of a player, dawg. Don’t let your head down,’ and I also talked to him a couple of weeks ago . . . and told him we’d be excited to have him here and all of that stuff, so we’ve always had a little connection.”

Also in the stadium that day was current quarterbacks coach Beau Baldwin, who spent eight years as the head coach of the EWU Eagles (2008-16), Los Angeles Rams receiver Cooper Kupp, New England Patriots receiver Kendrick Bourne, and present to watch his older brother Cory play, Bo Levi Mitchell, 13 days fresh off of winning the 102nd Grey Cup in Vancouver over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

“It’s a very small world,” said Roberson. “I couldn’t imagine (ending up playing together). I’m living on borrowed time; I had to switch positions so I couldn’t imagine. It’s cool still seeing everybody, I didn’t even know Bo was there (that day) until I got on the (Stampeders).

“You think about all the years that went past and then we get on the same team and have a random conversation and he’s like, ‘That was you? I was at that game!’ and I’m like ‘Yeah, that was me!’ so it’s just crazy.”

Much to Mitchell’s dismay, his alma mater couldn’t keep up with his future teammate’s high-powered offence.

To this day, Roberson clearly remembers the Redbirds’ game plan entering the quarterfinal.

“I remember coming in with the Redbirds, we were coming over from the Midwest in Illinois State and we were familiar with their offence and how dynamic they were,” he explained.

“Vernon was up for the Walter Payton award, and we knew about how dynamic he was, and we knew we had to score a lot of points.

“Whereas with Cooper Kupp we didn’t really know him like that and how he is now, even Kendrick Bourne, and the other receivers they had, we just knew about Vernon.

“But I was coming from Indiana University in the Big Ten, so I came to Illinois State with a swagger, like ‘I’m the best in this league at the quarterback position’, so me going over there, I felt like I was going to show everybody that I was the best. That (Vernon’s) not the best in this league, I’m the best in this league.

“Then I just remember getting on that field and being locked in. It was crazy because it was like we both felt each other’s presence. We both felt like it was one of those days for us to show who ‘the guy’ was.”

From the opening kickoff, Illinois State never let their foot off the gas.

Their standout running back Marshaun Coprich, all-time leader in nearly every rushing category for ISU, ran all over the Eagles, tallying 258 yards on the ground and four rushing touchdowns.

Roberson did his part in proving himself as a bonafide QB, completing 19 passes for 206 yards, and two touchdowns including a movie-esque, one-handed grab from Cameron Meredith in the front corner of the endzone.

The former pivot also made plays with his feet, converting on third and long or fourth and short, and adding a quarterback run for six to his dominant performance.

Competing on the opposite sideline, Adams put up astronomical numbers in the contest.

The aforementioned Walter Payton award finalist completed 25 passes for 425 yards and four total touchdowns (three through the air, and one on the ground).

He was able to engineer a few scoring drives in the fourth quarter, but the 25-point deficit already established by Roberson was too high a hill to climb.

“We were able to get off to a hot start,” Roberson recalled. “Before the game our coach would always ask me, ‘What’s the goal for the offence?’, and every single week there was only one goal: to score on every possession.

“We knew at one point in the season we would have to do that and that was that game against Eastern Washington. We knew that if we didn’t score on every possession and if they started to get hot, they would be hard to stop. Our defence played a hell of a game, too.”

Part of the credit for Illinois State’s success? Roos Field’s famous red turf.

“Man, that’s what got the juices going,” Roberson exclaimed. “When you get on that field, and just their atmosphere, because Vernon was the guy. He had his own theme music when he went out onto the field, he had the energy going, they’re in all red, on the sideline everyone’s pumped up and that was his field.

“It was an unbelievable feeling, an unbelievable game. That’s one of the best games I’ve been part of in my life. It’s a great memory.”