The Calgary Stampeders completed a winless Eastern road trip with a second consecutive close loss, dropping a 33-32 decision to the Montreal Alouettes on Thursday at Percival Molson Stadium.
The Stamps allowed two touchdowns in the final two minutes in squandering a 32-20 lead and falling to 1-2 on the season. The back-to-back losses in the East came by a combined four points.
Patrick Lavoie’s three-yard catch in the final minute complete the Montreal rally after Jerald Brown’s interception of a Kevin Glenn pass set up the winning score.
“It was an up-and-down game,” said Stamps head coach and general manager John Hufnagel. “Defensively, we played very strong in the first half and offensively, we couldn’t do too much. In the second half, we came out and put some points on the board. We had the 12-point lead with very little time left in the game but very little time in the Canadian Football League is a long time.
“Unfortunately, we made the one major mistake and gave them the lead. We have to regroup.”
Down 13-8 at halftime, the Stamps surged ahead thanks to an 11-play, 76-yard drive to open the second half. Glenn went five-for-five on the march, which was capped by a one-yard touchdown run by short-yardage quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell.
It was Mitchell’s first TD as a professional.
Rene Paredes kicked an 18-yard field goal to make the score 18-13 in favour of the Stamps after three quarters.
Calgary extended its lead to 25-13 in the fourth quarter thanks to a second one-yard rushing major by Mitchell, who found the end-zone on a second effort after getting stopped on his first try to break through the line.
Montreal got that major back on their own one-yard run by the backup quarterback as Adrian McPherson did the scoring honours.
The Stamps responded on their next possession as they ate up some clock and scored an insurance touchdown thanks to Jon Cornish’s five-yard run.
Montreal’s rally started on a drive that was capped by S.J. Green’s seven-yard touchdown catch with 1:50 to play.
The only touchdown of the first half came on Montreal receiver Brian Bratton’s 69-yard catch and run on a pass from Anthony Calvillo.
The Alouettes also got field goals of 39 and 30 yards from Sean Whyte.
Calgary’s scoring plays consisted of a couple of safeties conceded by Whyte, a 52-yard punt single and a 46-yard Paredes field goal.
Both defences did a number on two of the CFL’s premier running backs in the first half as Calgary’s Jon Cornish and Montreal’s Brandon Whitaker each had minus-3 yards on four carries.
The Stamps return home on Thursday, July 19 to host the Saskatchewan Roughriders. Kickoff at McMahon Stadium will be at 7 p.m.