STAMPS DUMP TICATS
QB not great but good enough to win
It wasn’t pretty; it certainly wasn’t statistically impressive. But if nothing else, Kevin Glenn’s much-anticipated return to Ivor Wynne Stadium was immensely satisfying.
Not just for him, either. Yes, the 33-year-old Calgary Stampeder got the best of the man for whom he was traded last January, Ticats quarterback Henry Burris, in the Stamps’ 3120 victory on a soggy Thursday night at Ivor Wynne Stadium. But all around him, teammates were answering questions.
Could Jon Cornish regain his form as one of the Canadian Football League’s best running backs?
Could the defence, so porous against the B.C. Lions in a July 28 loss, respond against the high-octane Tabbies?
Could the much-maligned offensive line open some holes for Cornish and give Glenn some time in the pocket?
Yes. Yes. And yes again, and the result was a massive victory before a crowd of 22,635 in what should be (never say never, though) the Stamps’ final visit to Ivor Wynne.
“It was a total team win,” said Glenn, 15-for-28 for 141 yards and a touchdown, in a happy Stamps’ locker-room afterwards.
“When you talk about team wins and everybody playing for 60 minutes and picking each other up, that was one of those wins right there, against a very good football team.”
The Stamps saved their best efforts for the second half. Down 10-7 at the intermission, the stamps simply man handled the Ticats, winners of three straight before Thursday, on both sides of the ball, and had possession for nearly 20 of the 30 minutes.
The main beneficiary was Cornish. In his previous outing, he was held to negative-one yards in rushing. On Thursday, he exploded for a career-high 170 yards and a touchdown, piling up 125 of those yards in the second half alone. He also made six catches for 47 yards.
“It was satisfying,” said a smiling Cornish. “As involved in social media as I am, I get to see people calling for my head after every game, and it’s really nice to have a statement game. Any time you can reverse your fortune from negative-one to whatever it was tonight? I would consider that a statement.”
The Stamps found themselves down 20-17 at the end of the fourth quarter when Ticats running back Chevon Walker scored his second touchdown of the game on a brilliant 47-yard run. But the Stamps would respond with back-to-back touchdown drives — the first capped by Romby Bryant’s eight-yard sprint on an end-around, the second on Nik Lewis’s eightyard touchdown catch (to complement two crunching blocks, on Greg Peach and Bo Smith respectively).
And down the stretch, Glenn would kill the clock with an 11-play drive that took 5:17 off the clock, and the starch out of the Ticats.
Burris was inconsistent most of the night, finishing 21-for40 for 267 yards, a touchdown and an interception by Quincy Butler.
“I got too caught up in the game early on, emotionally,” Burris told reporters. “I was throwing the ball all over the place and forced the one that got picked off.
“They wanted it more, that’s how they played. It’s as if we rolled over and just gave it to them.”
Calgary got its other touchdown from No. 2 quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell on a one-yard sneak, while Rene Paredes booted a 25-yard field goal. Luca Congi booted a pair of treys to round out the scoring for the Tiger-Cats, who dropped to 3-3 by having their three-game win streak snuffed out.
In terms of satisfying victories, Glenn admitted Thursday’s was up there, but not for the reasons you might suspect.
“It’s pretty high, because it’s right now,” he said. “All you can live is for the moment, and right now we have a big win, so I’m high on that win right now.
“When you focus on two individuals (Glenn and Burris), other individuals sneak in their and make plays. I’m glad that Jon got a chance to do that tonight. I’m more happy than he had this type of game than me beating my old team. You all think it’s about me and revenge against the Ticats.”