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One bounce was the difference Friday as the Stampeders suffered a 29-27 loss to the BC Lions in Canadian Football League pre-season play at McMahon Stadium.
With 1:13 left to play in the contest, Lions kicker Hugh O’Neill booted a 47-yard field goal that bounced in after clanging the crossbar for the winning points.
The Stamps had taken a 27-26 lead with 3:30 remaining thanks Jonathan Williams’ one-yard touchdown run on the heels of a 38-yard completion from Bo Levi Mitchell to Brandon Kinnie.
Calgary outgained BC 336-224 in total yards but miscues were the Stamps’ undoing.
“There were some good individual plays out there,” said Stampeders head coach and general manager Hufnagel. “And there was some sloppy play. We need to correct the things that led us to losing the game, which was too many penalties and turnovers.”
The Stamps coughed the ball up four times — twice on fumbles, once on an interception and once on downs — and committed 13 penalties.
On the bright side, rookie receivers Tim Hawthorne, Yannick Morin-Plante and Brandon Kinnie all had three catches for 70, 51 and 50 yards, respectively.
The game started under solid weather conditions but the skies opened up late in the first half and heavy rain pounded the competitors for most of the rest of the way.
“You have to make those evaluations,” said Hufnagel when asked what effect the weather had on the process of player assessment. “You’re going to play in inclement weather. If they can respond and make plays in this type of weather, you’d think they’d be able to make plays on a balmy day.”
Drew Tate opened the night under centre for Calgary, driving the offence to a single field goal in his one quarter of play. On the other sideline, Travis Lulay couldn’t get his offence moving, finishing the night two for five for 13 yards before giving way backup Thomas DeMarco.
In the Lions’ last possession of the first quarter, DeMarco orchestrated a three-play, 35-yard touchdown drive capped by a 14-yard pass to Nick Moore.
Kevin Glenn came in for the Stampeders and immediately got the offence moving. Starting at his own 38-yard line, Glenn completed passes to Hawthorne and Anthony Parker to get into scoring territory. Penalties pushed the Stamps to a second and 20 on the Lions 40, but Glenn was able to find Hawthorne for a 27-yard bomb for the first down. The Stamps finished the touchdown drive the next play with a 13-yard TD pass to Maurice Price to take a 10-7 lead.
The two teams exchanged possessions until the Lions kept the offence out for third and one in their own end. A strong interior rush pushed Lions QB DeMarco back and the Stamps gained possession on the 37-yard line.
After four straight running plays, Glenn slung his second TD pass of the night — this one to Khalil Paden for 14 yards.
The Lions came right back as wideout Korey Williams returned the ensuing kickoff 105 yards nearly untouched to the end-zone.
A few minutes later, Lions kicker O’Neill launched a 47-yard field goal on the last play of the half to tie it up at 17.
Glenn finished the night seven for 10 with 125 yards, two touchdowns and one interception.
Bo Levi Mitchell came in for the second half, but neither offence got much traction early on with the rain starting to pour down. In fact, the third quarter opened with six straight two-and-outs between the sides. The streak was ended when the Lions recovered a fumbled punt deep in the Stamps end and followed with a field goal to regain the lead at 20-17.
The Lions added a second field goal two possessions later, taking advantage of a 51-yard rush from Isi Sofele that seemed destined for a touchdown until Romeo Pellum was able to catch up and take him down at the 12-yard line.
Penalty trouble from the Stamps led to the next Lions field goal as an interception by Stamps safety Adam Berger was negated by a pass interference call. That allowed O’Neill to kick a field goal that made the score 23-17.
In the fourth quarter, Mitchell led the Stamps on his first scoring drive of the night, tossing a 43-yard bomb to Morin-Plante that set up a Rene Paredes field goal.
The next game for Calgary is Thursday’s pre-season contest in Regina against the Roughriders. The next action at McMahon is the June 28 regular-season home-opener against the BC Lions.