By Stampeders.com Staff

The Stampeders overcame several injuries and a flurry of flags to knock off the previously unbeaten Toronto Argonauts 25-20 on Monday night at McMahon Stadium.

Calgary (2-1) prevailed despite being penalized 18 times and losing starting offensive tackles Edwin Harrison and Dan Federkeil in the first half.

Backup Brad Erdos stepped in and defensive lineman Quinn Smith traded in his No. 90 jersey for No. 68 so that he could be eligible to play on the offensive line.

“We had some adjustments on the offensive line,” acknowledged Stamps head coach and general manager John Hufnagel. “Quinn Smith did an excellent job, moving from the defensive line, putting on an offensive line jersey, but he knows that’s part of his job on this football team.

“First of all, when you lose two tackles, that’s tough. Not a whole lot of people are playing the tackle position but Brad Erdos, who was mostly at guard throughout training camp, but he’s been around so he knows the assignments and he did a good job. Quinn went into guard and then Spencer (Wilson) went from his guard position to right tackle and then to left tackle. It was a mixture and things didn’t go 100 per cent but you didn’t expect that. We did expect them to battle and that’s what I liked about them.”

The Calgary defence, meanwhile, held the Boatmen to 44 rushing yards and 267 total yards.

“They got the ball back for the offence,” said Hufnagel. “They didn’t allow them to get into the end zone. That’s two very, very good efforts from our defence and I hope it continues.”

Toronto opened the scoring late in the first quarter when Trevor Harris connected with Kevin Elliott on an eight-yard TD pass.

The Stamps got on the scoreboard near the midway point of the second quarter as Bo Levi Mitchell hit Eric Rogers from three yards out. A missed convert left Toronto with a 7-6 lead but the advantage was short-lived as the Argos fumbled on their subsequent possession.

Joshua Bell recovered the loose ball and lateraled it to Fred Bennett, who took it to the Toronto four-yard line.

A touchdown run by Jon Cornish and a two-point convert from Mitchell to Marquay McDaniel made the score 14-7 for the home side.

In addition to his touchdown, Cornish moved past Lovell Coleman (6,395 yards) for fourth place on the franchise’s career rushing list.

On the receiving front, Rogers led Calgary with six catches for 114 yards.

Before halftime, the teams traded touchdowns as Mitchell connected with Jeff Fuller on a six-yard score to make it 21-7 and Harris replied with a 44-yard scoring connection to Tori Gurley.

A 55-yard Rob Maver punt single made the score 22-14 and closed out the first-half scoring.

Ronald Pfeffer kicked field goals of 48 and 45 yards to close the gap to two points but Rene Paredes hit a three-pointer from 30 yards out with 1:27 left to play and the Calgary defence closed out the victory.

The Stamps are back at McMahon on Saturday when they host the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in a 5 p.m. kickoff.