DOMINANT DRIVE PUTS STAMP ON CUP BERTH
After Bombers took lead in West final, Calgary offence retorted in vintage form
Ball control can do wonders for a football team.
Like take it all the way to the Grey Cup.
And so it is the Calgary Stampeders punched their ticket to the CFL championship courtesy of some serious — and timely — ball control shown in their Western Final victory Sunday at McMahon Stadium.
OK, just one really important one as it turned out in the 22-14 triumph to advance them to next Sunday’s big game in Edmonton.
But it was the difference in the ball game — a well-executed second-quarter march they can hang their hat on.
It was one that saw them drive 92 yards in 15 plays to take their first lead of the game. An easy strike from quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell to receiver Eric Rogers for a 12-yard touchdown capped the march that was pretty much complete in every way.
They ran the ball.
They passed the pigskin. They used two different rushers and six different receivers.
They were successful on a third-down, short-yardage gamble that was converted easily.
And in the end, they found pay dirt to take a one-point lead on the Bombers. (They actually found the end zone twice, but a Chris Matthews holding penalty wiped out a major on a Romar Morris 49-yard pass-and-run play).
Up to that point, they’d seen the visiting Winnipeg Blue Bombers own time of possession and put up two field goals (credit the Stamps defence for providing a little bend-but-don’t-break football) to put the host side in a 6-0 hole.
“We needed it,” said Stampeders head coach Dave Dickenson of the scoring drive. "We needed that spark. Luckily we were holding them to field goals and we weren’t necessarily making plays. We dug ourselves a bit of hole.
“And we came out of it there.” Perhaps most important was it kept the Bombers offence off the field, which had gained traction in the first quarter and allowed the Stampeders defence to rest up and get fresh after spending too much time on the field to start the contest.
In fact, the only negative was a rather ill-advised coach’s challenge put in motion by Dickenson.
As Morris found himself wide open along the sidelines and hauled in that long would-be touchdown, Matthews was flagged for essentially springing Morris free of his coverage. Dickenson challenged the penalty and lost on review. The play stood and the Stamps coach forfeited the right to challenge any other calls, a precious commodity in football today.
But the failed challenge proved to be of no consequence on either the drive or the game.
With ball control comes a balanced attack, which the Stamps showcased on the game’s difference-making drive.
Two runs by Don Jackson for a first down followed by a first-down toss to Matthews and another Jackson rush. Canadian receiver Lemar Durant then caught a Mitchell pass for 14 yards and the Stamps were in business on the Bombers’ side of the field.
After the called-back touchdown, Canadian receiver Richard Sindani hauled in a 17-yarder and combined with Matthew’s makeup catch to offset his penalty the Stamps dug themselves out of a first-and-20 hole to set themselves up at the Bombers’ 42-yard-line.
On the next series, it was Morris on a run and Sindani on a catch leading to Nick Arbuckle’s short-yardage conversion on a third-and-one gamble.
From there, Mitchell threw to Markeith Ambles twice and William Langlois once — going 1-for3 for his only two incompletions of the drive — before finding Rogers for the first of the receiver’s three touchdowns on the game.
“We needed that drive and to get that touchdown,” Dickenson said. “It got us going.”
Ball control was something Dickenson preached coming into the Western Final and for good reason.
With the Bombers possessing a vaunted ground attack paced by all-star running back Andrew Harris and a rugged offensive line to potentially punish the Stamps defence, there’s value in bleeding the clock with a ballcontrol offence to help the defence freshen up.
It’s especially valuable if it results in points.
This one did for the first touchdown of the game and a lead they never relinquished.
It swung momentum in favour of the Stamps, who had struggled to gain a foothold on any kind of rhythm.
The defence, now fresh, then went out and held the Bombers to a four-play drive to give its offence the ball back.
And Mitchell and the offence quickly responded with a sevenyard Don Jackson run and passes to Rogers, Matthews and Rogers again — covering five, 22 and eight yards — for a quick touchdown march and a 14-6 advantage.
“It’s always huge to put up points,” Mitchell said. "Our job is to put up points.
“There’s deflating moments and there’s moments that pick you up as a team.”
That first drive picked up the Stamps from a stumbling start and put them on the road north to the Grey Cup.