The Calgary Stampeders’ fourth-quarter comeback fell short as they fell 23-21 to the Toronto Argonauts 23-21 in the 2011 season-opener at McMahon Stadium on Friday.
The Stampeders scored a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns to erase an 11-point deficit but Noel Prefontaine booted a 43-yard field goal with just 17 seconds to play to give the Argos the victory.
Down 17-6 with less than nine minutes left to play, Calgary found the end-zone for the first time as Joffrey Reynolds ran the ball in from two yards out. Henry Burris connected with Rob Cote on the two-point convert to cut the Argonauts’ lead to 17-14.
A little later, a 38-yard punt return by Larry Taylor set up another rushing touchdown, this one a three-yarder by Jon Cornish.
Prefontaine kicked a 25-yard field goal with 2:18 left in the game to get the Argos to within one point.
An inability to complete drives prevented the Stampeders from building a bigger early lead than 5-0 as repeated trips into Toronto territory netted only five points on a 17-yard Rob Maver field goal, a single on a 32-yard field-goal miss and a 57-yard Burke Dales punt single.
“We failed to take advantage of our opportunities early in the game, fought through a lot of injuries and we weren’t able to hold the lead in the end,” said head coach and general manager John Hufnagel. “In between, there were some good things that happened but we didn’t make the plays at the end to win the game.”
One of the injuries that hampered the Stamps occurred to Maver during the warmup and worsened as the game progressed. The hobbled kicker managed to convert just one of four field-goal tries.
“It’s never a good thing to lose, especially your home-opener,” acknowledged Hufnagel, “but I saw some positives out there. I saw a team that fought back into the game and made some plays. Our defence played good football most of the night, they just gave up enough field position for (the Argos) to kick their field goal. I saw some fight and fire form our football team. They fought through some adversity, we just didn’t finish it.”
The Argos offence managed just 126 total yards in the first half but the majority of those were concentrated in a nine-play, 75-yard second-quarter drive that was capped by an 18-yard touchdown pass from Cleo Lemon to Brandon Rideau.
The second half got off to a rough start for the Stampeders as Taylor fumbled the opening kickoff, setting up a Prefontaine field goal that pushed the visitors’ lead to 10-5.
Calgary had a couple of field-goal attempts in the third quarter — one of which was set up by Geoff Tisdale’s first interception as a member of the Stampeders — but could manage only a single point from the tries.
On the first play of the fourth quarter, Toronto’s Cory Boyd scored on a two-yard plunge to punctuate a five-play, 75-yard drive. The extra point made it 17-6 for the Argos.
The Stamps will be back in action next Friday as they travel to Vancouver to face the BC Lions.
INDIVIDUAL STATS
PASSING
Cgy: Burris 26-37-293-0-1; Tor: Lemon 16-30-187-1-1
RUSHING
Cgy: Reynolds 12-57-1, Burris 3-50, Cornish 2-0-1, Bishop 1-1; Tor: Boyd 17-100-1, Durie 1-10, Lemon 3-10
RECEIVING
Cgy: Bryant 4-88, Rambo 7-64, Lewis 5-44, Cote 4-32, Franklin 2-31, Forzani 2-17, Cornish 1-11, Taylor 1-6; Tor: Durie 4-59, Copeland 2-39, Owens 3-39, Rideau 3-37-1, Watt 1-9, Boldin 2-8, Boyd 1-(-4)
NOTABLES
Cgy: Taylor 5-121 KOR 7-95 PR, Tisdale 3 TKL 1 INT, Mace 2 TKL 1 SK, Smith 5 TKL 1 KD, Raymond 4 TKL; Tor: Prefontaine 3-3 FG 2-2 XP 11 PTS, Wroten 5 TKL 2 SK, Pile 5 TKL 1 STT 1 FF, Shell 2 TKL 1 STT 1 FR, Black 2 TKL 1 INT