By Max Campbell
Stampeders.com

Six turnovers were the ultimate demise of the Stampeders on Friday night as they suffered a 37-13 defeat on the road at the hands of the BC Lions.

“Very disappointing,” commented head coach John Hufnagel following the game. “We didn’t start off very well. BC played pretty good football; we helped them play good football in that first quarter. They jumped to a 17-0 lead, we had too many turnovers and we had a big play called back because of a penalty.” 

Getting the start for the Stampeders was Bo Levi Mitchell, who committed the first turnover of the game by throwing an interception over the middle to LB Solomon Elimimian. WR Korey Williams was located all alone in the end zone by veteran pivot Kevin Glenn, who was facing his former team for the first time after spending the past two seasons with the Red and White.

Before BC’s offence could return to the field, Stefan Logan returned a Rob Maver punt 93 yards for a touchdown to put the Lions ahead 14-0 just less than seven minutes into the first quarter. 

Logan soon followed that up with another explosive play, taking a handoff and bursting up the middle for a 35-yard gain before Courtney Taylor hauled in a pass for a pickup of 21 yards. The drive was polished off with a successive field goal from Paul McCallum which gave BC a 17-0 lead over the visitors.

The following kickoff featured a promising return from RB Jock Sanders, but the former Roughrider coughed up the football before his knee touched the turf, giving the Lions instant field position across midfield. However, the Stamps’ defence was up to the task and forced a punt from Ricky Schmitt that bounced into the end zone, thus forcing Calgary to concede a single point. 

After the first quarter of play, the Stampeders trailed 18-0 and were limited to six yards of total offence. 

Calgary got on the board with three points courtesy of K Rene Paredes from 24 yards out after Mitchell orchestrated a 10-play drive that began at his own 35 yard line.

Midway through the second quarter, QB Drew Tate hooked up with WR Jeff Fuller for 43 yards, leading to a 13-yard major for third-year Canadian receiver Simon Charbonneau-Campeau. The reception by the former Hamilton Tiger-Cat narrowed the Leo’s lead to eight.

McCallum then converted his second field goal of the night on a 42-yard attempt at the conclusion of the three-minute warning.

Rookie DB T.J. Lee, a former Eastern Washington Eagle, picked off another Mitchell pass, although BC failed to extend their lead with the change of possession. Paredes closed out the opening half by splitting the uprights from 47-yards out, and the teams headed to the locker room with the Lions holding a 21-13 advantage.

A third McCallum field goal reestablished an 11-point lead for BC on the opening drive of the third quarter. With Tate behind centre for Stampeders on their initial drive of the second half, Elimimian came up with his second interception of the game as Tate was trying to connect with WR Anthony Parker.

QB John Beck, who spent the first six seasons of his professional career in the NFL, saw his first action for the Lions as a result of the turnover, but was promptly picked off by DB Fred Bennett deep in Calgary territory. 

The turnover trend would continue shortly thereafter. T.J. Lee came up with his second interception as well, and was untouched on his 15-yard return across the goal line. As the third quarter came to a close, the Stamps found themselves in a 31-13 hole, their largest deficit in either of their two preseason matchups in 2014. 

RB/KR Tim Brown demonstrated his elusiveness on a 40-yard punt return after Mitchell struggled to generate a first down upon reentering the game. He was eventually tracked down by LB Glenn Love, but BC capitalized on Brown’s special teams effort with another field goal from McCallum.

Mitchell’s performance took another blow when DT Chris Olson pounced on a lose ball that DE Jabar Westerman stripped from the quarterback’s grasp. McCallum continued his high-scoring evening from 26 yards out, which increased their lead to a 37-13 margin.  

Bryant Moniz took the final snaps for the Stampeders; Travis Partridge closed out the victory for the Lions.

“We got down 17-0 and we made some plays, but we had some turnovers in the second half and things got away from us,” said Hufnagel.  “Individually on defence I thought there were some nice plays on the inside. I saw DeQuin Evans make some nice plays and some of our young DBs made some plays. Offensively, our offensive line I thought played pretty well. We ran the ball decently and they gave the quarterbacks, for the most part, some decent protection.”

Calgary begins their regular season campaign on Saturday, June 28 at McMahon Stadium when they host the Montreal Alouettes at 1pm MT on TSN.