Late touchdowns lift Stamps to 28-14 win over Tiger-Cats
CALGARY — After settling for field goals, the Calgary Stampeders finally broke through with two fourth-quarter touchdowns in a 28-14 win over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Saturday.
Calgary’s first five trips to the red zone — within 20 yards of the goal-line — yielded four field goals and an interception.
But quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell threw a 15-yard touchdown pass to Kamar Jorden and Don Jackson rushed for a 44-yard touchdown in the final quarter.
Terry Williams and Jackson both ran for two-point converts for the hosts in the season-opener for both CFL teams.
“When you settle for field goals, you get a little nervous,” said Calgary head coach Dave Dickenson. “... because you’re missing opportunities to really put a gap between you and the opponent. It was a grind. It’s early season. I don’t think it’s always going to be pretty. The team we played is a good football team and it’s going to be a team that’s going to win a lot of games, so for us to grind it out at home in a hard-fought game, that says a lot about our guys.”
Rene Paredes kicked field goals from 22, 17, 29 and 19 yards in front of an announced 23,717 at McMahon Stadium.
Ticat QB Jeremiah Masoli rushed for a touchdown. And Lirim Hajrullahu kicked field goals from 41 and 43 yards for the Cats, who have lost 13 in a row to the Stampeders. Hamilton’s last win at McMahon was in 2004.
Former Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel didn’t see action as Masoli’s backup, so Manziel’s CFL debut must wait.
Masoli moved the Ticat offence efficiently with an 82 per cent completion rate in the first half and 69 per cent overall. But the they struggled to finish drives.
“We just had a bunch of missed opportunities,” Masoli said. “We just kept shooting ourselves in the foot. Against a team like this, you can’t do that.”
Trailing by a TD with less than two minutes remaining in the game, the Cats were on the march to Calgary’s end zone when veteran back Brandon Smith intercepted Masoli.
“We had the ball with a chance to score at the end to win,” Masoli said. “You can’t throw a pick like that. That’s on me.”
Masoli completed 25 of 36 passes for 344 yards. Mitchell was 17-for-32 for 297 yards and was intercepted once.
Emanuel Davis, who spent the last five seasons in Hamilton, and middle linebacker Alex Singleton, the CFL’s defensive player of the year in 2017, led Calgary in tackles with eight apiece.
Hamilton (41) and Calgary (40) rank first and second in the CFL in the number of returning players from last season.
Hamilton is in Edmonton to take on the Eskimos on Friday. The Stampeders go east to Toronto to play the Argos Saturday.