The Calgary Stampeders finished the season on a strong note on Saturday by defeating the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 30-24 at McMahon Stadium.
The win was the Stamps’ third in a row and gives Calgary a final record of 11-7 but the Red and White will have to settle for third place in the West Division after the BC Lions defeated the Montreal Alouettes on Saturday night. The Stamps will travel to Edmonton’s Commonwealth Stadium on Sunday, Nov. 13 for the West Division semifinal.
It was a game of wild momentum swings as the Stamps built a 24-0 lead in the first half and withstood a Blue Bombers rally.
“We had our moments that we were pretty good and we had our moments when we weren’t quite so good,” was Calgary head coach and general manager John Hufnagel’s assessment of his team’s performance. “What I liked is that later in the game, deep in the fourth quarter, both sides of the football did the things they needed to do to win the game.”
Drew Tate, who threw for 207 yards and one touchdown, improved to 3-0 as Calgary’s starting quarterback.
“What I liked about Drew is that he fought through things and he kept his poise,” said Hufnagel. “We were in the shadow of our goalpost several times in the second half and we got out to a point where we were at least in a better position to punt the football and change field position or get a long field goal.”
Calgary got things going with a 47-yard Rene Paredes field goal on the Stamps’ first possession.
The first touchdown of the day was set up by a big defensive play as Junior Turner’s sack of Alex Brink resulted in a fumble and a recovery by Brandon Smith. Four plays later, Jon Cornish ran the ball in from four yards out.
The Calgary special-teams unit then got into the act as Chris McCoy blocked a Jamie Boreham field goal. That gave the Stamps great field position and set up an 11-yard touchdown pass from Drew Tate to Ken-Yon Rambo.
In the second quarter, a 54-yard completion from Tate to Rambo was the key play in a drive that culminated Henry Burris’ one-yard touchdown run.
The Bombers scored 17 points in the final four minutes of the half as Chris Garrett’s two-yard touchdown run, Clarence Denmark’s 18-yard touchdown catch and a 39-yard Justin Palardy field goal accounted for the visitors’ damage.
Paredes’ 44-yard field goal was the only scoring play in the third quarter and gave the Stamps a 24-14 advantage heading into the final period.
Brink scored on a two-yard keeper in the fourth quarter to get the visitors within three points. The Winnipeg drive was kept alive by a roughing-the-kicker infraction on a missed field goal.
Paredes answered with a 37-yard field goal to make it 30-24 for the Stamps.
INDIVIDUAL STATS
PASSING
Cgy: Tate 15-28-207-1-1; Wpg: Brink 22-33-202-1-0
RUSHING
Cgy: Coker 4-46, Cornish 8-38-1, Tate 5-33, Burris 4-8-1, Taylor 1-4, Franklin 1-(-2); Wpg: Garrett 17-64-1, Brink 3-24-1
RECEIVING
Cgy: Rambo 3-78-1, Lewis 4-56, Cornish 2-20, Forzani 1-15, Arthur 1-13, Bryant 2-11, Cote 1-8, Taylor 1-6; Wpg: Denmark 5-54-1, Pontbriand 1-41, Garrett 9-38, Watson 4-36, Edwards 2-20, Jeffers-Harris 1-13
NOTABLES
Cgy: Paredes 3-3 FG 3-3 XP 12 PTS, Simpson 10 TKL, Smith 7 TKL 1 FR, Morley 4 TKL 1 SK 1 FF, Butler 4TKL 1 FR, Turner 2 TKL 1 SK 1 FF, McCoy 1 BLK; Wpg: Beasley 5 TKL 1 STT 6-162 KOR, J.Johnson 4 TKL 1 INT 4-77 PR, Mainor 1 TKL 1 SK, Muamba 2 STT 1 FF
More coverage
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>> Locker-Room Blog: Ken-Yon Rambo
>> Locker-Room Blog: Juwan Simpson
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>> Updated standings
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