PAREDES FOILS TIGER-CATS
Stamps survive wind in Hamilton
The Calgary Stampeders and Hamilton Tiger-Cats were up against a much more powerful opponent on Friday night — Mother Nature herself — and the little lady made their jobs just that more arduous.
Battling winds that gusted to 60 km/ h, offences were hampered and, add to that a couple of staunch defences, points were at a premium at Tim Hortons Field.
So, it was only fitting that kickers — the ones most affected by the conditions — should decide the game.
Rene Paredes kicked five field goals, including the 37-yard killer with no time remaining on the clock, to lift the Stamps to a 23-20 victory over Hamilton.
When Justin Medlock shanked a punt in the final minute, that allowed the Calgary offence to move in as close as it could and the surefooted Paredes made no mistake. That was his second field goal in the final minute, after he had tied the contest with a 46-yarder with 48 seconds remaining.
“I wouldn’t rather have anyone other than Rene out there for a long winning field goal,” said Stamps’ head coach/GM John Hufnagel. “He’s been clutch on numerous occasions as we all know.”
Calgary’s record is now 11-3, while Hamilton dropped to 8-5. The victory secures a home playoff date for the Stamps.
“It was a battle for 60 minutes,” Hufnagel said. “You have to take advantage of the wind. When they had the wind, they kicked some longs ones. That one was 95 yards that he kicked. It’s not the easiest thing to do, throw the ball through a hurricane. I thought both quarterbacks managed the game as well as possible.”
Calgary won the coin toss and deferred which, given the force of the wind, was a victory in itself.
“Shoot, the biggest play of the game was that last punt,” said Cal- gary quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell.
“You see exactly what it does. Medlock had some big ones into the wind, the last one was unfortunate. We took advantage of that and Rene is as big as he gets, as he always is.”
Medlock’s 57-yarder came in the first quarter to make it 13-0. The Ticats had taken the lead 2:47 into the game, with a guy you don’t want running wild on a punt return doing just that. The elusive Brandon Banks took a Rob Maver kick back 83 yards for the major score, his fourth touchdown return of the season.
The Stamps could breathe a sigh of relief when the second quarter began and suddenly the wind was their friend. They immediately took advantage, Paredes striking his 22nd straight field goal, this one a long 51 yards out. But the streak would end there as the 30-year-old attempted one from 52 yards five minutes later and was wide.
To say the defences ruled this contest would be an understatement. A snapshot of that took place midway through the second quarter, when new Calgary defensive back Brandon McDonald intercepted a Jeff Mathews pass.
Two plays later, Eric Rogers fumbled the ball and Hamilton recovered, but on the very next, running back Michael Ford lost the ball to Deron Mayo.
And they weren’t done yet. On the ensuing punt return, Maleki Harris caused Banks to lose control of the ball and it was jumped on by Glenn Love. That put it on the Hamilton 15 and eventually Mitchell hit Marquay McDaniel from eight yards out for the touchdown.
The Ticats came in with an excellent plus-18 in turnover ratio, but this game took its toll. After engineering a nice drive midway through the third, Mathews was stripped of the ball, with a recovery by Keon Raymond at the Calgary 18.
“I’ve been a pro for a while but this was probably one of the worst I’ve seen with the wind,” said Raymond. “You think about it, they had the wind and we had a fumble inside the red zone. Our defence, I take my hat off. Coach Stubler said we had to play hard and we did.”
A couple of penalties by the Stamps — illegal contact on Brandon Smith and a horse-collar tackle on McDonald — occurred on a 59-yard romp by Ford and, from one-yard out, Mathews sneaked in for the touchdown at 8:10 of the fourth. Smith was shaken up on the play.
“The play where Smitty got run over and they call PI, and they made a huge play off of that,” Mitchell said.
“That’s rough. I’m not saying anything against the refs, but it’s rough when a call like that decides a game. Luckily we responded from