When Rene Paredes joined the Calgary Stampeders in 2011, he didn’t envision playing 100 regular-season games for the Red and White. Try 91 games fewer than that.

“I thought I was here for nine games,” admits the Montreal product. “(Rob) Maver was the guy and he was getting healthy, so I thought I was going to be here for nine games and my short career was done.”

Maver, then the Stamps’ placekicker, was hurt in Calgary’s season-opener in 2011 and a replacement was needed. However, the thought was that Maver would reclaim the job after completing a stint on the nine-game injury list and that Paredes would be thanked for his efforts and sent on his way.

Instead, Maver wound up being sidelined the entire season and Paredes kept the job. Maver returned in 2012, but as the Stamps’ punter — replacing the departed Burke Dales — and Maver and Paredes have formed the Calgary kicking tandem ever since.

Special teams coordinator Mark Kilam talks to kicker Rene Paredes before his first CFL game in 2011

Coincidentally, Maver played his 100th regular-season game for the Stamps two weeks ago while Paredes reaches the milestone Saturday in Edmonton as the Stamps face the Eskimos in the Labour Day rematch.

But let’s go back to 2011 when Paredes’ game-meter was still at zero.

With Maver on the limp, Paredes was quickly summoned to Calgary along with a handful of other kickers for an open tryout.

“The night before, I was in Montreal, enjoying a couple of beers, getting ready to go back to school (Concordia University) but all of a sudden I’m here in (Calgary) going against these other guys,” he recalls.

Paredes faced daunting competition for the job at the kickoff audition as also in the mix were a pair of CFL veterans — Matt Kellett and Jamie Boreham — and a local applicant in University of Calgary alum Aaron Ifield.

Warren Kean, who had been chosen second overall in the CFL draft four years earlier, got a separate workout with the Stamps.

Meanwhile, Paredes — undrafted and with only a brief appearance at Blue Bombers training camp on his resume — paid his own way from Montreal to Calgary to get to the kicking tryout. He appeared to be a longshot but Paredes didn’t see things that way.

“I really wanted this job and I was going to make sure I was going to take it,” says Paredes.

Rene Paredes kicks a field goal in his first CFL game on July 8, 2011 (Photo by Canadian Press/Darryl Dyck)

But the tryout started ominously for the then-26-year-old as he missed the mark on his first kick attempt, a modest 22-yarder.

“Wide right,” explains Paredes. “I thought, ‘That’s it. They’re not going to want me.’ ”

However, in a sign of things to come, Paredes promptly started a hot streak and nailed field goal after field goal. He also distanced himself from the pack by unleashing some boomers on kickoffs.

Still, when the audition ended and Paredes left the field, there was no one waiting with a contract in one hand and a pen in the other.

“I showered, went back to the hotel across the street and then, half an hour later, my agent called me telling me I was the guy,” he recounts. “I called my parents right away and told them the good news.”

And yes, he did get reimbursed by the team for his flight to Calgary.

Paredes’ Stamps debut was in Vancouver just a few days after the audition and, as luck would have it, he had nothing to do but kickoffs and old-school short extra points for the first 56 minutes of the game.

Then came a real test. With the Stamps nursing a two-point lead, head coach John Hufnagel sent Paredes out for nothing less than a 50-yard attempt. With no outward sign of nerves, the rookie smoothly delivered.

“I’ve seen that clip many times,” chuckles Paredes, “and my facial expression was priceless. I was shocked.”

For good measure, Paredes delivered a 25-yard field goal a minute-and-a-half later that wound up accounting for the winning points in a 34-32 Stamps victory.

And no tale of that very first game would be complete without mentioning the birth of Paredes’ nickname.

Because of Paredes’ Hispanic heritage — the kicker was born in Venezuela and is of Peruvian descent — long-snapper Randy Chevrier had an idea.

“He started with the ‘El Matador’ before the game and he got me smiling,” says Paredes. “He got rid of those butterflies I had.”

There was a challenge that was part bet and part dare. Chevrier and the other Stamps players passed the hat around the locker room and collected $260 that Paredes would claim if he celebrated his first field goal with a flick of the wrists reminiscent of a matador waving a cape in front of a bull. Paredes obliged and went back to Calgary a little richer.

Kicker Rene Paredes with his “Matador cape” celebration in 2011 (Photo by David Moll)

That night was only the beginning.

Paredes has been a three-time CFL all-star and was the league’s Most Outstanding Special Teams Player in 2013. That was the year he broke Paul McCallum’s CFL record of 30 consecutive field goals.

Paredes wound up making it 39 in a row but some critics suggested an asterisk should be placed next to the record because an attempt at the record-tying 30th field goal was blocked by Montreal’s John Bowman. However, because the ball did not pass the line of scrimmage, it was not statistically recorded as an attempt and Paredes went on to make 10 more field goals to shatter the record.

“(The call for an asterisk) did bother me a bit,” he admits, “but at the end of the day, I really didn’t care. I really don’t care what people say as long as my teammates and my family and my coaches were happy for me. That’s all that mattered to me.”

If anyone insisted on continuing to challenge the validity of the record, Paredes has made the point moot with his current run of 31 successful field goals that doesn’t include any blocks and has again surpassed McCallum’s old mark.

Kicker Rene Paredes with his trophy as the CFL’s Most Outstanding Special Teams Player in 2013 (Photo by Canadian Press/Ryan Remiorz)

Fittingly, he carries the streak into Saturday’s milestone game.

“When (Maver) reached his 100th game,” says Paredes, “I started thinking about mine. Like I said, I thought I was supposed to be here for nine games. And now I’m making it to 100, and hopefully a lot more.

“It’s been a short career but at the same time it’s been a great one so far and I’m going to try to make it an even better one.”

The six-year veteran is 31, which can be the start of the end for players at other positions, but not necessarily for kickers. After all, McCallum was still hoofing when he was 45.

“I do know I’m not going to play as long as Paul McCallum, that’s for sure,” laughs Paredes. “I don’t think my hips or my body could hold on that long. We’ll see. I take it year by year. Hopefully I get to 10 years at least.”

And what if Maver hadn’t been hurt five years ago and the Stamps hadn’t placed that phone call to Montreal?

“To tell the truth,” shrugs Paredes, “no clue. I was getting ready for my fifth year at Concordia. I was going to play that year and finish school and maybe I would have had another shot the following year. But I got that call and it worked out for me.”

And it sure worked out for the Stamps, too.

Quarterback Drew Tate and kicker Rene Paredes celebrate a field goal during the 2014 Grey Cup (Photo by Canadian Press/Nathan Denette)