Stamps refocus for final month of regular season
Club doesn’t control own destiny after tough loss to Eskimos
A stunning loss at home, late in the regular season, has a certain amount of déjà vu for the Calgary Stampeders.
It was almost a calendar year ago that the fifth-place Winnipeg Blue Bombers came into McMahon Stadium on an ugly Week 19 night and beat the Stamps 18-13.
From that point on — one regular season visit to Vancouver and two playoff games — the Stamps were a runaway freight train, rolling to the seventh Grey Cup championship in team history.
This year, after dropping a 15-11 decision to the Edmonton Eskimos on a blustery Saturday evening we’ll see if it has the same effect on this team. Quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell summed it up in one word.
“Refocus,” the 2014 Grey Cup MVP said. “Not only that, it makes you hungry, so it’s perfect to happen at Thanksgiving.
“The guys know we could have won the game. Not to say we should have, because they made the plays and we didn’t. We just didn’t make the plays. It will refocus us and make us hungry again. We will go out there and keep fighting. That’s what we want going into these last three games, knowing it will be a tough time down the stretch.”
There are two main differences between last year and this year. There are three regular-season outings left in the 2015 schedule, and the Stamps haven’t locked up first place in the West Division.
Now it’s not even up to them whether they host the West final. They need some help from other CFL teams to finish first for a thirdstraight season.
With the season series locked up, the Eskimos are listed in first right now despite both teams’ holding identical 11-4 records. Unless Edmonton stumbles in the final month — they have home games against B.C. and Montreal with a road trip to Saskatchewan — the Stamps can run the table and still finish second.
The Stamps have a more difficult final month — road trips to Toronto (this week) and B.C. with a home game against Saskatchewan — but that doesn’t change the goal: A perfect final month.
“Hopefully this is our last loss,” said defensive back Jamar Wall. “We are feeling like, ‘Yeah we lost this one, but it’s better to get it out The Toronto Argonauts have become the road warriors of the Canadian Football League.
Trevor Harris threw touchdown passes to Diontae Spencer and Tori Gurley as the Argonauts stretched their winning streak to three games, all away from home, with a 25-17 victory over the Montreal Alouettes on Monday afternoon.
Their win in Ottawa last week was supposed to have been a home game, but they were forced out of the Rogers Centre by the Blue Jays playoff run. Their next game, Saturday against the Calgary Stampeders, may be moved to Tim Hortons Field in Hamilton.
Brandon Whitaker ran in a touchdown and Justin Palardy kicked a field goal for Toronto (9-5), now tied with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats atop the East Division. Tyrell Sutton and B.J. Cunningham scored TDs and Boris Bede had a field goal for Montreal (5-9), which lost a third game in a row before 21,536 at Percival Molson Stadium.
The Alouettes lost yet another quarterback as Rakeem Cato suffered a suspected concussion on a Thomas Miles sack just ahead of halftime and did not return. That brought in Anthony Boone, the sixth QB they have used this season.
Cato was good on nine of 12 passes for 72 yards and had a 9-7 lead when he left the game. Boone was 6-for-12 with an interception and Marsh was 9-for-14 for 119 yards, a touchdown and a pick. Harris, who went 16-for-21 for 182 yards, 2 TDs and an interception, led scoring drives when Toronto needed them.
SPENCER, GURLEY WITH TD CATCHES AS ARGOS BEAT ALS
BILL BEACON
THE CANADIAN PRESS
of the way now and then focus on getting back on track.’