By Stampeders.com staff

The Stampeders scored 25 unanswered points in the fourth quarter Friday night at McMahon Stadium to rally from a 12-point deficit and defeat the Saskatchewan Roughriders 40-27.

The win was the Stamps’ fourth in a row and allowed the West Division leaders to improve to 14-2. The Roughriders have dropped five in a row and are now 9-8.

Calgary has won 14 games in back-to-back seasons and has two games left to try and match or surpass the franchise record of 15 victories set in 1993, 1994 and 1995.

The Stamps’ fourth-quarter points came in a span of a little less than 10 minutes and the comeback was started by an 11-yard touchdown reception by Jock Sanders. The score was his first as a member of the Stamps and came in his first game against his former team.

After Saskatchewan punter Josh Bartel conceded a safety, the Stamps took the lead for good when Matt Walter ran the ball two yards to score his second rushing touchdown of the contest.

Calgary sealed the contest with a 50-yard interception-return touchdown by Jamar Wall and an 18-yard field goal by Rene Paredes.

“We knew we would have to be playing some real good football in the fourth quarter,” said Stampeders head coach and general manager John Hufnagel. “We expected a real close game and that’s what it was.

“I thought our secondary tightened things up, we were able to get a little bit more consistent pressure on (Saskatchewan quarterback) Kerry (Joseph) and we had an opportunity to make some interceptions.”

Calgary had an 8-3 lead after 15 minutes thanks to a missed-field goal single and a 23-yard touchdown run by Matt Walter, who was filling in for the ailing Jon Cornish.

The visitors countered with a 32-yard field goal by Chris Milo.

The Roughriders scored 17 straights points in the second quarter to take a 20-8 lead ad Joseph connected with Rob Bagg for 24-yard touchdown, Milo kicked a 33-yard field goal and Brian Peters returned an interception 15 yards for a major.

The Stamps gave themselves an emotional lift heading into halftime by marching the ball 63 yards on five plays in 39 seconds for a touchdown that cut Sakatchewan’s lead to 20-15. Drew Tate capped the drive with a one-yard dive for his league-leading 10th rushing touchdown.

The Roughriders accounted for the only scoring in the third quarter as Joseph connected with Chris Getzlaf for a 40-yard touchdown.

It was a milestone evening for Stamps slotback Nik Lewis, who passed the 800-reception mark for his career and passed Brian Kelly (11,169 yards) for 11th place on the CFL’s all-time list. Lewis finished the evening with season highs in catches (nine) and yards (98).

Meanwhile, Stamps rookie Eric Rogers had five catches for 72 yards in his CFL debut.

On defence. Wall had a pair of interceptions to pull into a tie with Edmonton’s Dexter McCoil for the league lead with six picks. Brandon Smith also had an interception for Calgary while Brandon Jordan, Shawn Lemon and Junior Turner all recorded sacks.

“It was a full-team effort,” said Hufnagel. “All three phases helped contributed to win this football game.”

The Stamps play their regular-season home finale next Saturday, Nov. 1, when they play host to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. Kickoff is at 2 p.m.