STAMPEDERS JUGGERNAUT ROLLS OVER ARGONAUTS
But Calgary’s depleted receiving corps takes another hit, writes Danny Austin.
CALGARY 36, TORONTO 16
Stop us if you’ve heard this before.
The Toronto Argonauts hung around in the first half.
The Calgary Stampeders are a different team after halftime, though.
Playing in front of a sparse crowd at McMahon Stadium on Friday night, the Stampeders put on their latest second-half master class, rolling over the lowly Argos en route to a 38-16 win.
The victory clinched a playoff spot for the Stamps, although at 11-2 they’ve got their eyes on much bigger goals than just qualifying for the post-season. That was just a formality.
What wasn’t a formality was the way the Stampeders dispatched of their visitors.
The score was lopsided, but the Stamps needed to fight for it — at least for a while.
Amid a brutal storm that seemed to hit McMahon Stadium just minutes before kickoff, the Stamps opened the game with a clinical drive downfield that ended with a 36-yard run into the end zone by Marken Michel.
For those in the media who had been predicting a blowout, it seemed the Stamps were going to make us look good. Instead, the Argos responded. After Rene Paredes missed the convert, McLeod Bethel-Thompson marched the Argos downfield on a 69-yard touchdown drive that finished with a two-yard James Franklin touchdown run.
For a brief moment, it looked like we might have a game on our hands.
It was a feeling that lasted until the end of the first half, pretty much.
After Reggie Begelton became the latest star Stamps receiver to go down with a serious injury — a broken collarbone, it appeared — each team only put up field goals in the second quarter, and the Stamps went into halftime with a 14-11 lead.
It’s not the first time the Stamps have had a close first half, though, and anyone who has watched the team closely this year probably knew what was going to happen.
The Stampeders started the second half with another field goal and then the defence took over.
After Bethel-Thompson threw a pass that was intercepted by Brandon Smith deep in Argos territory, backup QB Nick Arbuckle ran the ball into the end zone to give the home team a 24-10 lead.
A few minutes later, the game was all but done when Mitchell connected with Michel for a 21-yard score.
A few minutes after that, Mitchell finished off yet another drive with a touchdown, this time connecting with Juwan Brescacin to make it 38-10.
A last-minute drive downfield saw the Argos put up six more points to make it slightly more respectable, but there was nothing on the line at that point for either team.
It was as dominant a second half as anyone could have asked for, and it’s worth noting the Stampeders defence allowed only three points over a 50-minute stretch of the game.
They completely limited Bethel-Thompson, holding him to 273 yards after he completed 30 of 44 passes and threw one interception and no touchdowns.
Mitchell, on the other hand, was quietly great.
Despite playing with a receiving corps ravaged by injury, Mitchell completed 20 of 34 passes for 307 yards and two touchdowns before getting replaced by Arbuckle midway through the fourth quarter when the Stamps were well ahead.
He spread the ball out, connecting with each of his receivers instead of relying on one or two. Markeith Ambles, playing in his first game, had three catches for 69 yards. Brescacin had five receptions for 64 yards. Julan Lynch had two catches for 62 yards.
It was a remarkable performance under trying circumstances, and that’s the sort of thing voters should look at when they’re choosing the CFL’s Most Outstanding Player at the end of the season.
For now, the Stamps put in yet another performance that showed they’re the class of the CFL.
They clinched a spot in the playoffs, and based on the way they’re playing, it won’t be long before they’re booking McMahon Stadium for a home date in the West Final.