By Stampeders.com Staff

The Stampeders recovered from a slow start to defeat the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 26-25 on Saturday at McMahon Stadium and take sole possession of first place in the CFL’s West Division.

Calgary improves to 3-1, one win ahead of BC, Edmonton and Winnipeg. It was the Stamps’ 50th regular-season home victory since John Hufnagel took over as head coach and general manager prior to the 2008 season.

Special teams in general and Adam Berger in particular were a large part of the story in Saturday’s comeback victory. With Calgary down 16-0, Berger raced down the field and forced a fumble by punt returner Troy Stoudermire. The loose ball was recovered by Randy Chevrier and, three plays later, the Stamps were in the end-zone thanks to a 19-yard TD pass from Bo Levi Mitchell to Eric Rogers. The same tandem combined on the two-point conversion.

In the second quarter, Berger blocked a Liram Hajrullahu punt and the ball was scooped up by Adam Thibault, who scrambled into the end-zone for a score.

By halftime, the score was knotted at 16-16.

The Stamps took their first lead of the day late in third quarter when short-yardage quarterback Drew Tate scored on a one-yard keeper. The scoring was the culmination of an impressive 107-yard drive that featured 66 rushing yards by Jon Cornish. The veteran Calgary tailback finished the game with 120 yards.

“That’s one thing that’s been missing from our offence,” said Hufnagel, “is a long gain on the ground. We were trying to make sure we were patient with our running game and that drive starting on the minus-3 and taking all the way down the field, a lot of that was because Jon was toting the football.”

The Bombers replied two minutes later with a 79-yard catch-and-run play from Drew Willy to Darvin Adams. A missed extra point had the Stamps ahead by a 23-22 score.

With seven minutes to play in the final period, Hajrullahu kicked a 49-yard field goal to put the visitors ahead 25-23 but Rene Paredes connected on a 40-yarder with 2:14 to play to put the Stamps back in front.

The defence closed the deal, with Juwan Simpson picking off a Willy pass to snuff out the Bombers’ last drive.

“I thought all three phases played with great effort the whole game,” said Hufnagel. “We needed to. I thought Winnipeg played extremely hard. There were some unusual things that occurred in the game, both teams had to handle adversity. Fortunately, we made a play at the end to seal the game.”

The Stamps will be in Ottawa this coming Friday to face the RedBlacks. Kickoff is at 5 p.m. MDT.