British Columbia Lions 25 Calgary Stampeders 32 (October 15, 2006)
| 2
|
| |||
|
0 votes 
0 commentsThe Calgary Stampeders didn't care what attitude the British Columbia Lions had towards Sunday's game.
A 32-25 win over the Lions meant everything to the Stamps, even if the loss meant little to B.C.
Calgary secured second place in the West Division and home-field advantage in the division semifinal with the victory, while the Lions had already clinched first place and a bye to the Western final with a 39-13 pasting of the Stamps the previous week.
The Stampeders (10-7) host the Saskatchewan Roughriders (8-8) on Nov. 5 with the winner heading to Vancouver to face the Lions (11-5) in the Western final Nov. 12.
Sunday's result was important psychologically for the Stamps, who came into the game losers of five straight to the Lions, including last week's humiliation.
The Stampeders needed to store up some confidence should the two sides meet in the Western final, as well as prove to their fans in the final home game of the regular season they could actually beat the Lions.
"These boys have been putting it on us this year and last year," Calgary receiver Ken-Yon Rambo said. "We had to step and do something and man-up. That's the new word. 'Man-up."'
Calgary quarterback Henry Burris did a better job of marshalling the offence and the Stampeders had more success controlling the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball than in the previous week's woeful outing.
Burris connected on touchdown passes to Rambo and Elijah Thurmon and ran three yards in for his own touchdown in front of 33,546 at McMahon Stadium. He completed 21 of 37 pass attempts for 307 yards and was intercepted once.
Joffrey Reynolds scored his ninth rushing touchdown of the season. He had 92 yards on the day and surpassed his season career-high of 1,453 yards set last year.
Kicker Sandro DeAngelis contributed a 39-yard field goal to tie him for the club's single-season record of 54 field goals, set by Mark McLoughlin in 1996.
"We were able to find that magic ingredient to be able to say we beat the B.C. Lions, no matter whether they felt there was anything on the line or not," Calgary head coach Tom Higgins said. "There was a lot on the line for us."
The lacklustre Lions face the challenge of keep their competitive edge when they don't play a meaningful game for almost another month. Geroy Simon, the league's leading receiver, was scoreless Sunday.
"You can't play football when you're not 100 per cent committed to playing hard and playing with emotion," head coach Wally Buono said.
A wild fourth quarter followed a dull third as B.C. closed the gap with two touchdowns late in the game.
Backup quarterback Buck Pierce, making his third straight start in place of injured Dave Dickenson, pushed in for a one-yard touchdown and was 11-for-16 in passing for 131 yards before he was replaced by third stringer Jarious Jackson.
Jackson made seven of 18 pass attempts and had one touchdown pass, a 42-yarder to Kendrick Jones in the fourth quarter.
B.C.'s Ryan Thelwell collected a blocked punt by Jones and ran it 15 yards back for a TD with just over a minute remaining in the game.
Kicker Paul McCallum made one of three field-goal attempts in the first half. He was good from 24 yards, but was wide from 49 and 32 yards out.
The Stampeders snatched the lead just before the first half expired. Rambo redeemed himself for a fumble on an earlier reverse with a stellar run off a short pass from Burris.
"Oh man, I was so pissed off about that reverse," Rambo said. "So I took it on myself. The next time the ball came I wanted to make something happen."
Higgins says he will play all his starters Saturday in Winnipeg because Calgary finishes the season with a bye week.
B.C. hosts Hamilton on Saturday and Winnipeg on Oct. 28 to complete the season.
Notes - Calgary improved its home record to a league-leading 8-1 . . . The total season attendance at McMahon Stadium this season was 276,944 for an average of 30,772 . . . In the fourth quarter, a green-wigged streaker ran the length of the field, scaled two fences and was last seen headed for the parking lot to the amusement of the spectators.
Scoring Summary
FIRST QUARTER
- BC -- B. PIERCE Run (1 yds) - Touchdown (6:35)
- BC -- P. MCCALLUM Convert - Convert(1) (6:45)
- BC -- P. MCCALLUM Field Goal (24 yds) - Field Goal (15:00)
SECOND QUARTER
- CAL -- J. REYNOLDS Run (10 yds) - Touchdown (6:08)
- CAL -- S. DEANGELIS Convert - Convert(1) (6:17)
- BC -- P. MCCALLUM Missed Field Goal (45 yds) - Single (12:00)
- CAL -- H. BURRIS Completed Pass to K. RAMBO (46 yds) - Touchdown (14:29)
- CAL -- S. DEANGELIS Convert - Convert(1) (14:29)
THIRD QUARTER
- CAL -- S. DEANGELIS Field Goal (39 yds) - Field Goal (3:23)
- CAL -- B. DALES Punt (54 yds) - Single (10:12)
FOURTH QUARTER
- CAL -- H. BURRIS Completed Pass to E. THURMON (11 yds) - Touchdown (1:56)
- CAL -- S. DEANGELIS Convert - Convert(1) (2:14)
- BC -- J. JACKSON Completed Pass to K. JONES (42 yds) - Touchdown (7:51)
- BC -- P. MCCALLUM Convert - Convert(1) (8:13)
- CAL -- H. BURRIS Run (3 yds) - Touchdown (12:14)
- CAL -- S. DEANGELIS Convert - Convert(1) (12:14)
- BC -- R. THELWELL Fumble Return (15 yds) - Touchdown (13:57)
- BC -- P. MCCALLUM Convert - Convert(1) (13:57)
Date
October 15, 2006
