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By Stampeders.com Staff
Here’s another look at Calgary’s 24-23 comeback victory over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in the Stamps’ 2015 regular-season opener at McMahon Stadium on Friday.
Next week marks the 11th anniversary of the Tiger-Cats most recent victory at McMahon.
It was on July 4, 2004, when the Greg Marshall-coached Ticats beat Matt Dunigan’s Stampeders 41-34 in a Week 3 contest. Since that date, Marshall, Charlie Taaffe, Marcel Bellefeuille, George Cortez and now Kent Austin have all brought Hamilton teams to Calgary and come away empty-handed.
It’s hardly been utter Calgary domination, however, especially in recent seasons. The four most recent Stamps home victories over the Ticats have been by a combined 10 points and have featured some wild finishes.
In 2012, the Stamps overcame a 10-0 first-quarter deficit and led the contest 34-26 when Hamilton’s Chevon Walker scored a touchdown in the final minute. A potential game-tying two-point convert failed and then Hamilton botched the snap and hold on a possible game-winning field goal on the final play.
The following season, the visiting Tabbies led 22-13 before the Stamps put together another rally. The Hamilton lead was 22-19 with seven minutes to go and the Ticats had the ball in Calgary territory, but Alvin Bowen made an interception to kill the drive. Stamps slotback Marquay McDaniel scored the go-ahead touchdown with 1:18 left on the clock.
A year ago, Hamilton again took an early lead — albeit only 4-0 in this case — before the Stamps again rallied. A Brad Sinopoli rushing touchdown and a fourth-quarter Rene Paredes field goal had the Stamps ahead 10-7 in the final minute. The Ticats had a chance to tie the game with a field goal try but Luke Tasker was unable to pin the ball on the snap and was tackled by Brandon Smith.
Then on Friday, the Stamps started a drive at their own 35 with 44 seconds to play and overcame an objectionable conduct penalty to get a game-winning field goal on the final play.
One of the major reasons the Stamps have kept their home winning streak against the Ticats alive has been the work of their defence.
In the seventh minute of the third quarter of the 2013 Stamps-Ticats game at McMahon, Hamilton running back C.J. Gable scored on five-yard run. Since then — a total of nine quarters plus eight minutes — the Calgary defensive unit has held the Ticats without an offensive touchdown at McMahon Stadium. In fact, thanks to Keon Raymond’s pick-six on Friday, the Calgary defence has actually out-touchdowned the Hamilton offence during that stretch.
Speaking of Raymond, he equaled William Hampton’s franchise record on Friday by scoring the fifth interception-return touchdown of his Calgary career.
The eight-year veteran also moved into second place in career interception-return yards with 694, just 23 yards back of Larry Robinson for the franchise’s all-time best. What’s remarkable is that Raymond’s yardage has come on 21 career picks compared to 50 for Robinson.
Raymond has three of the 10 longest interception returns of all-time for Calgary including a team-record 117-yarder in 2011. His 100-yarder against Hamilton in 2012 ranks ninth while his 98-yarder on Friday is good for 10th spot.
John Hufnagel’s final season-opener as head coach — he becomes the full-time general manager in 2016 — came on the seventh anniversary of his first as Calgary’s bench boss and both games ended with the Stamps on top.
On June 26, 2008, the Red and White downed the BC Lions 28-18. Calgary is 6-2 in season-openers under Coach Huff.
Here is more coverage from Friday’s game:
>> Game story
>> Stamps TV: Highlights
>> Stamps TV: Game balls
>> Stamps TV: Recap
>> Stamps TV: Huff’s post-game comments
>> Stamps TV: Locker-room reaction
>> Paredes starts year on right foot
>> Locker-Room Blog: Charleston Hughes
>> Photo gallery
>> Game stats