The Stampeders wrapped up their regular season with a 26-7 defeat at the hands of the Lions at BC Place on Friday night. The loss put an end to Calgary’s five-game winning steak and was their final contest before hosting the Western final on November 17. 

“We lost the football game, plus we also lost some players which is always difficult,” says Stamps head coach and GM John Hufnagel. “We’ll reconvene, get on the practice field, try to become a better football team, learn from this game tonight. We need to play better football.”

The Stamps opened the scoring on their first series of the night when K Rene Paredes concluded the 11-play drive with a field goal from 46 yards out.

Buck Pierce, starting his second game of the year for the Lions, then threw an interception on his first play from scrimmage. Deron Mayo dropped back into coverage to record the first pick in his young CFL career.

After a subsequent Rob Maver punt, Pierce and the BC offence moved the ball downfield and took 4:54 off the clock before RB Andrew Harris put six points on the board for the home team. The Canadian tailback followed his blockers and used his speed to outrun the edge of the defence.

A Stampeder punt single narrowed the score to 7-4 just before first quarter came to a close.

McCallum came on to attempt a 46-yard field goal after DB Derrius Brooks broke up a deep ball at the goal line intended for slotback Shawn Gore.

Drew Tate entered the game on the next series, although the offence suffered a two-and-out.

Travis Lulay was under centre on BC’s next possession and converted a second-and-long with a draw play to Harris that went up the middle for a 20-yard gain. After missing the past six weeks of action due to a shoulder injury, Lulay connected with WR Nick Moore four plays later to the one-yard line. The Lions extended their lead by 13 when Lulay called his own number and ran untouched into the end zone.

After two defensive linemen — Demonte’ Bolden and Micah Johnson — suffered injuries to end their nights, receiver Marquay McDaniel left the contest after getting tackled on a short crossing pattern.

The under-manned Stamps headed into the locker room trailing for only the fifth time this season.

The second half begun with Thomas DeMarco as the signal caller for the Leos, but Deron Mayo’s fifth sack of 2013 abruptly ended the drive.

FB Rob Cote caught a pass out of the backfield and turned it upfield for 16 yards prior to WR Jeff Fuller hauling in a pass which marched the offence into red zone. Paredes spilt the uprights from there, which cut the deficit to 10.

The next possession for the Red and White featured a run of 16 yards by RB Matt Walter who filled in for Jon Cornish midway through the opening quarter.

BC added six more points courtesy of two McCallum field goals, the first from 45 yards and the second from 17 thanks to a 45-yard reception from Emmanuel Arceneaux. 

In the fourth, Bo Levi Mitchell became the sixth quarterback to see action between the two teams.

DB Brandon Smith had a game-high 10 tackles. Paredes, who went 2/2, finished the season with a 94.7% accuracy rate which broke the CFL record set by McCallum in 2011.

The Stampeders will host the Western final on Sunday, Nov. 17 against the winner of the Western semi-final between Saskatchewan and BC. Kickoff is at 2:30 p.m.

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