© 2025 Calgary Stampeders. All rights reserved.
The Riders’ second half momentum carried them past the Stampeders to a 36-21 victory and they now remain the only undefeated team in the CFL.
“Both teams played well in the first half,” said head coach and general manager John Hufnagel. “We knew it was going to be a hard-fought game for sixty minutes. We wanted to come out and play better in the second half and we didn’t do that. Saskatchewan played at a higher level than us. Offensively we couldn’t establish anything. We only had two opportunities in the third quarter and we were two plays and out both times. The defence, we couldn’t get them off the field and when we did we had penalties to extend their drives and they ended up in scores.”
The Stampeders came out of the gate hot as it took just seven plays for the Stampeders to find the end zone to open the scoring at Mosaic on Friday night. Calgary started the game with the ball deep in their own end, but three plays later Drew Tate hit Joe West for a huge 64-yard play to get to the Riders’ 15-yardline. Two plays later, Tate handed the ball off to Marquay McDaniel for the score and his first major of 2013.
On the next series, Saskatchewan answered back with a Chris Milo 15-yard field goal.
As the opening quarter came to a close, Tate marched his team downfield, finding Nik Lewis for a 24-yard gain on second and long to keep the drive alive. On the first play of the second quarter, birthday boy Rob Cote hauled in an eight-yard touchdown pass from Tate to put the Stamps up 14-3.
With just over nine minutes left in the first half, Darian Durant found Weston Dressler over the middle for a 28-yard touchdown. The Riders opted to go for a two-point convert and were successful on a pass to Kory Sheets to narrow the score to 14-11.
On their next series, an impressive touchdown catch by Taj Smith was negated by an offside penalty, forcing the Riders to settle for a 36-yard Milo field goal to tie up the game at 14 apiece with 1:45 left in half.
On the final drive before halftime, Tate capped off an 11-play, 75-yard drive with a touchdown pass to Joe West to put the Stampeders up 21-14 heading into the locker room.
The third quarter was dominated by the Riders, although the Stampeders defence held them to just six points.
In the final frame, Sheets ran it in on an impressive second effort from three yards out to give the Riders their first lead of the night. Another two-point convert courtesy of a Dressler catch put the Riders up 28-21.
Saskatchewan returner Jock Sanders returned a Maver punt 19 yards when it looked like the Stamps special teams was in position to contain him along the sideline, further energizing the already electric crowd.
The Calgary defence then got a much-needed two-and-out, but a too many men penalty by Calgary’s special teams unit gave the Riders a fresh set of downs and a short field to work with.
Shawn Lemon registered Calgary’s first sack of the game after Durant fumbled the snap and thus forced Saskatchewan into a third-and-long situation.
Calgary middle linebacker Juwan Simpson earned an unnecessary roughness call on Dressler and Ryan Getzlaf made the Stamps pay immediately as he tip-toed down the sideline and leaped over the pilon for six points. The convert put the Riders up by a score of 35-21.
“You never want that, you never like it,” said Hufnagel about penalties that kept the Riders offence on the field. “It wasn’t a big penalty game for either team, but those are the types of things you have to keep your poise and composure and don’t do it. Keep your team off the field and give yourself a better chance to win the game.”
Quarterback Kevin Glenn came in under centre with less than five minutes remaining, but the Stamps offence suffered another two-and-out.
Sheets rumbled for a first down just prior to the three-minute warning to essentially put the game out of hand.
A punt single put the home team ahead 36-21 with under a minute left. Saskatchewan defensive back Macho Harris then ended the game with an interception in the end zone as the clock hit zeros, the first turnover of the game for either squad.
Week 3 sees the Stampeders travel to Montreal to face the 1-1 Alouettes on Friday, July 12 at 5:30 pm MT.