The Calgary Stampeders are coming home empty-handed from their trip to the Maritimes for Touchdown Atlantic, dropping a 55-36 decision to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Sunday at Moncton Stadium.
The second Canadian Football League contest ever played in the Atlantic provinces was a shootout as Hamilton’s Marcus Thigpen and Calgary’s Romby Bryant each accounted for three touchdowns.
The Stamps suffered a second consecutive loss and fell to 7-5 on the season.
“I think we’re a talented football team,” head coach John Hufnagel said after the contest. “(But) something’s missing. We’re not as resilient a football team as we have been in the past. I’m searching right now — the way we’ve played football in the last month is not the same type of football as we played at the beginning of the season.
“Right now, we’re not a good football team. I don’t think we’re tough enough mentally to overcome bad situations in a football game. Every football game has peaks and valleys and you have to fight through it.”
Thigpen returned a missed field goal 118 yards in the third quarter and also contributed scoring receptions of eight and 32 yards to help the Ticats reach the .500 mark (6-6) for the season.
Since Hamilton was officially designated as the home team for Touchdown Atlantic, Sunday’s result snaps the Stampeders’ seven-game road winning streak.
Calgary marched 95 yards on seven plays during the game’s opening offensive possession, which culminated with a nine-yard touchdown reception by Bryant.
Hamilton capitalized on favourable field position to even the score as a drive that started on Stamps territory was called by Avon Cobourne’s one-yard touchdown run.
Bryant’s second major of the day and third of the season gave the Stamps a 14-7 lead early in the second quarter but Hamilton answered with another one-yard rushing major, this time by Quinton Porter.
Turnovers then proved costly for the Stamps as Hamilton built a 24-14 halftime lead. First, a Henry Burris fumble gave the Ticats the ball at the Calgary 21 and set up a 34-yard Justin Medlock field goal.
Then, in the final minute of the opening half, a Landan Talley fumble on a punt return gave Hamilton a first-and-goal from the Calgary eight-yard line. Two plays later, Kevin Glenn found Thigpen in the end-zone for a scoring pass.
Medlock’s 33-yard field goal made it 27-14 before LaMarcus Coker, getting his first carry in his first professional start, romped 75 yards for a Calgary touchdown.
Hamilton answered with a pair of Thigpen scores, including the missed-field goal return, and a 31-yard Terry Grant receiving major to take control of the contest.
Bryant completed his hat trick of touchdowns with a 10-yard reception from Drew Tate in the fourth quarter. Tate hit Talley for the two-point conversion.
Grant scored his second major, a 15-yard rush, with 2:12 to play in the contest. Calgary’s Ken-Yon Rambo closed out the scoring with 37 seconds to play with a 17-yard touchdown reception.
The Stamps return home on Saturday to face the Saskatchewan Roughriders. Kickoff at McMahon Stadium will be 2 p.m.
INDIVIDUAL STATS
PASSING
Cgy: Burris 13-23-177-2-1, Tate 8-15-2-0; Ham: Glenn 16-23-276-3-0, Porter 1-1-3-0-0
RUSHING
Cgy: Cornish 9-84, Coker 1-75-1, Burris 2-24, Tate 3-5; Ham: Cobourne 15-84-1, Grant 5-23-1, Glenn 1-7, Porter 3-2-1
RECEIVING
Cgy: Lewis 8-95, Bryant 5-75-3, Rambo 3-71-1, Cote 1-17, Cornish 2-13, Forzani 1-5, Talley 1-5; Ham: Thigpen 6-139-2, Grant 3-53-1, Cobourne 4-36, Stala 1-26, Williams 2-17, Mann 1-8
NOTABLES
Cgy: Morley 3 TKL 1 STT 1 SK, Jackson 5 TKL, Simpson 4 TKL, Raymond 4 TKL, Hughes 1 TKL 1 KD, Davis 1 TKL 1 KD; Ham: Hickman 2 TKL 2 SK 1 FF, Williams 2 TKL 1 INT 1 FR, Johnson 6 TKL, Thigpen 1-118 MFGR 1 TD 3-17 PR