The Calgary Stampeders are still looking for their first winning streak of the season as they dropped a 22-14 decision to the Toronto Argonauts at McMahon Stadium on Saturday.
The Stamps (3-4) have followed each of their three victories so far this season with a loss.
Untimely penalties in the first half played a role in the Stamps’ undoing as the lost yardage knocked Calgary out of field-goal range on one occasion and negated a potential first-and-goal situation on another.
Two of the infractions came were calls for unnecessary roughness and objectionable conduct after the Stamps retaliated for questionable Argos hits.
“Whether I take issue (with the hits) doesn’t matter,” said Stampeders general manager John Hufnagel. “They weren’t called, so you just move on. I know our players were frustrated, but what are you going to do? Lose a football game because you lose your composure? That’s not right.
“In the second half, we wore down defensively and we probably didn’t tackle as well as you would like for the whole game. Basically, it was a second half game and we weren’t able to hang in there. I’m very disappointed by this loss and I hope my players in that locker-room are disappointed.”
The game was devoid of touchdowns until the final play of the third quarter when Ricky Ray connected with Andre Durie for a 26-yard scoring pass. The major gave the Argos (4-3) a 19-6 lead.
Despite 433 yards of combined offence by the two teams, the first half was a battle of field-goal kickers.
Both teams had drives stall in the red zone as Toronto’s Swayze Waters connected from 23, 27 and 11 yards while Calgary’s Rene Paredes was successful on attempts from 18 and 14 yards.
Waters added a 47-yarder in the third quarter and capped the scoring with a 38-yard boot late in the fourth quarter.
Calgary scored its only touchdown with 12 seconds to play as Chris Bauman scored on an eight-yard reception. Kevin Glenn added a two-point conversion on a run but the Stamps were unable to recover the subsequent onside quick.
The Stamps return to action on Saturday, Aug. 25 when they travel to Regina to face the Saskatchewan Roughriders. Kickoff is at 1 p.m. MDT.