The Calgary Stampeders overcame a slow start on offence and survived a late scare on Friday night at Vancouver’s Empire Field to record their first win of the 2011 Canadian Football League season.
A Stamps fumble gave the BC Lions a last-second chance to win the game but Paul McCallum’s 57-yard field-goal try was wide and Calgary hung on for 34-32. The Stamps even their record at 1-1 while BC falls to 0-2.
“It was a good win,” said Stampeders head coach and general manager John Hufnagel. “I’m disappointed with the way we gave away the ball (at the end of the game) but we were able to survive it. The defence went back on the field and saved the game for us.
“In between the first turnover and the last turnover, there was some exciting football on both sides. We knew it was going to be a 60-minute battle — we made it a 60-minute battle at the end — and it was two good football teams slugging it out.”
After defences dominated the first 30 minutes of play, which featured just 13 combined points, the offences came out of the locker-room very strong for the second half.
The Stamps got a great return by Landan Talley on the second-half kickoff, eventually leading to an 11-yard touchdown reception by Jon Cornish.
The Lions answered with a scoring drive that was capped by a 54-yard touchdown pass by Travis Lulay to Akeem Foster.
After rookie Akwasi Antwi recovered a Lions fumble on a punt return, the Stamps got that touchdown back thanks to a 16-yard scoring reception by Talley.
Then it was BC’s turn to chalk up a touchdown, this one on an 11-yard pass from Lulay to Andrew Harris to cap a nine-play drive.
Calgary promptly answered on its very next possession, capping a wild 35-point third quarter with Nik Lewis’ 61-yard catch-and-run major.
In the fourth quarter, Tim Brown’s six-yard touchdown on a pitch play got the Lions to within 28-26 but the two-point convert attempt to tie failed. Calgary extended its lead to five points thanks to a 50-yard field goal by Rene Paredes, who was making his CFL debut.
Keon Raymond’s late interception and a 25-yard Paredes field goal made the score 34-26 and set up the wild and woolly ending.
Lulay got a late touchdown to give themselves a chance for the tie but the subsequent two-point convert attempt was unsuccessful. Calgary recovered the onside kick but then gave the ball right back to BC on a fumble and provided McCallum with the late and ultimately futile attempt to give BC a win.
Despite three Calgary turnovers and a slew of penalties — including an illegal-formation infraction that wiped out a 43-yard touchdown catch by Larry Taylor — the Stamps managed to take a 7-6 lead into the locker-room at halftime.
The Stamps’ major came in the dying seconds of the opening half as backup quarterback Michael Bishop came into the game in a short-yardage situation and scored on a one-yard keeper.
The score was set up by Taylor’s 48-yard punt return.
The rest of the story for the Stamps in the first half was a solid defensive effort that held the Lions to a pair of McCallum field goals despite the turnovers that put BC in good field position. The run defence twice stopped the Lions in second-and-short situations while Geoff Tisdale made his second interception in as many games to snuff out another BC drive.
Calgary held the Lions to 39 net yards in the first two quarters. McCallum’s field goals, which came from 14 and 35 yards out, gave BC a 6-0 lead that held up until very late in the first half.
The Stamps remain on the road for Week 3 as they will head to Winnipeg for a Thursday-night matchup with the undefeated Blue Bombers.
More coverage
>> Video: Highlights
>> Audio: Coach Huff
>> Locker-Room Blog: Juwan Simpson
>> Photo gallery
>> Updated standings
INDIVIDUAL STATS
PASSING
Cgy: Burris 19-36-298-3-3; BC: Lulay 17-39-279-2-2
RUSHING
Cgy: Reynolds 8-41, Burris 3-28, Cornish 4-22, Bishop 3-4-1, Taylor 2-2; BC: Lulay 4-28-1, Brown 1-6-1, Black 1-5, Harris 2-2, Robertson 3-1
RECEIVING
Cgy: Lewis 4-100-1, Talley 4-55-1, Forzani 4-39, Bryant 2-37, Reynolds 2-36, Cote 2-20, Cornish 1-11-1; BC: Gore 7-96, Foster 1-54-1, Collins 2-51, Simon 4-50, Black 2-17, Harris 1-11-1
NOTABLES
Cgy: Paredes 2-2 FG 4-4 XP 10 PTS, Raymond 2 TKL 1 INT 1 KD, Tisdale 2 TKl 1 INT, Smith 4 TKL 1 FF, Talley 5-150 KOR, Antwi 2 STT 1 FR, Turner 3 TKL 1 SK; BC: Taylor 8 TKL 1 SK, Hunt 2 TKL 1 SK 1 KD, Franks 3 TKl 1 INT, Phillips 2 TKl 1 INT, Marsh 2 TKL 1 STT 1 FF 1 INT