The surging Calgary Stampeders head into their bye week with a share of first place in the Canadian Football League’s West Division.
The Stamps improved to 5-2 and pulled even with the Edmonton Eskimos on Friday night thanks to a 45-35 victory over the Saskatchewan Roughriders at Regina’s Mosaic Stadium.
It’s the sixth consecutive win on the road for the Stamps dating back to last season and overall Calgary has won five of the past six games. The Roughriders fall to 1-6 and remain winless at home.
“We did put a lot of points on the board, but there are some things we definitely need to clean up,” said Stampeders head coach and general manager John Hufnagel, who was concerned by the slew of penatlies that kept several Saskatchewan drives alive. “But the guys are excited and they earned a few days off.”
The Calgary win featured a record-breaking performance by Stampeders defensive back Keon Raymond, who picked off a Darian Durant pass in the end-zone during the third quarter and ran it back 117 yards for a touchdown.
It was longest interception return in Stampeders history, beating Karl Anthony’s record of 115 set on Oct. 10, 1993, also against Saskatchewan.
“Just a great effort by Keon,” said Hufnagel, who picked up his 41st win as Stamps boss and is now tied with Jerry Williams for third place in Stampeders history. “He was all over the field breaking tackles and he was not to be denied.”
The Calgary offence came out smoking as the visitors put up touchdowns on each of their first three possessions of the night.
Jabari Arthur opened the scoring with a 23-yard touchdown reception. It was Arthur’s first CFL touchdown after the Montrealer was denied an apparent major a week ago on a challenge and replay ruling.
Next time the Stamps had the ball, they found the end-zone again as Henry Burris hooked up with Nik Lewis for a nine-yard touchdown pass.
After Saskatchewan got on the board with an 11-yard touchdown reception by Hugh Charles, the Stamps got the seven points back thanks to a drive that was capped by Drew Tate’s one-yard keeper run.
Charles got in the end-zone again, this time by way of a 14-yard run, but Calgary scored the final 10 points of the opening half to make the score 31-14 at the midway point.
After a 26-yard Rene Paredes field goal, Burris hit an open Ken-Yon Rambo in the end-zone for a 26-yard receiving major.
After Raymond’s record-breaker, Charles completed his hat trick of touchdowns with a 15-yard catch in the fourth quarter.
Saskatchewan’s Neal Hughes and Calgary’s Joffrey Reynolds traded short touchdown runs and the scoring was capped when the Riders’ Weston Dressler had a touchdown catch with one minute to play.
It was a milestone evening for Reynolds, who in the first half passed Normie Kwong (9,022 yards) for seventh place on the CFL’s all-time rushing list.
The Stampeders return to action on Aug. 27 when they host the Montreal Alouettes in a 2 p.m. start at McMahon Stadium.
INDIVIDUAL STATS
PASSING
Cgy: Burris 21-29-298-3-0; Ssk: Durant 24-34-325-2-2, Dinwiddie 6-6-109-1-0
RUSHING
Cgy: Reynolds 11-59-1, Cornish 3-16, Burris 1-8, Tate 5-6-1, Taylor 1-3; Ssk: Charles 11-94-1, Durant 2-6, Hughes 2-4-1, Dinwiddie 1-3, West 2-2
RECEIVING
Cgy: Arthur 7-92-1, Bryant 4-66, Forzani 2-56, Rambo 3-40-1, Lewis 4-38-1, Taylor 1-6; Ssk: Hill 11-177, Dressler 4-79-1, Robinson 3-72, Charles 7-50-2, West 2-22, Getzlaf 1-9, Nunn 1-8, Clermont 1-7
NOTABLES
Cgy: Raymond 3 TKL 1 INT 1 TD, Morley 3 TKL 1 SK 1 FF, McCune 4 TKL 1 INT, Hughes 5 TKL 1 STT 1 SK, Fassitt 5 TKL, Claybrooks 5 TKL; Ssk: Freeman 7 TKL 1 STT, Williams 4 TKL 2 STT 1 SK, Patrick 4 TKL 1 STT, Jackson 4 TKL
More coverage
>> Video: Game highlights
>> Audio: Coach Huff’s post-game comments
>> Locker-Room Blog by Keon Raymond
>> Photo gallery
>> Updated standings
>> Team stats