The Grande Prairie Warriors, in Edmonton to play a high-school playoff game Saturday, will stay an extra day and attend the CFL western semi-final Sunday as guests of the Eskimos.

Warriors quarterback Jerrod Caufield scrimmages with the Eskimos at the Commonwealth Stadium practice field. (CBC)

The Warriors are dealing with the deaths of four players in a car crash three weeks ago.

On Friday the Eskimos invited the team to watch their practice as they prepare to battle the Calgary Stampeders.

The practice will be followed by a barbeque with the Eskimo players and coaching staff.

The experience is a welcome lift after a difficult three weeks, said Warriors Iinebacker Marcus Cooper.

"It's been, like, spirit lifting," he said. "It's a good time."

"We're very honoured that the Eskimos have been with us from the very beginning," said Warriors coach Rick Gilson. "Football has been the way that all of us have been able to step out of the grief."

The Eskimos have developed a bond with the Warriors, said spokesperson Dave Jamieson.

"We've had a few players go up to Grande Prairie," he said. "There's a kinship there and...our players will want to spend some time with them and let them know we're thinking of them."

While in Edmonton the Warriors will visit teammate Zach Judd, badly injured in the crash and still in hospital not fully awakened from a coma.

"I think it will be good for the boys, because the other four warriors they have had to bury in the last couple of weeks and that has been so hard on them," said Zach's aunt Shelley Judd.

"Maybe it will be good, maybe he will hear voices that he might recognize."

I think today he might have even had a little smile on his face." she said Thursday.

The 15-year-old continues to make improvement.

His mother told coach Gilson that Zach is now able to sit up and, though not able to communicate, he can respond to questions by squeezing a hand.

Matthew Deller, 16, and Vincent Stover, 16, Walter Borden-Wilkins, 15, and Tanner Hildebrand, 15, died after their car was struck by a GMC pickup truck Oct. 22.

The Warriors play a provincial quarter-final game against Sherwood Park's Bev Facey Falcons at Clarke Park Saturday.

Eskimo Kavis Reed offered the Warriors words of inspiration.

"When you have a team that has gone through the tragedy they've gone through, they owe it to themselves to finish," he said. "They owe it to themselves to dig deep inside to use that burning desire to carry on."