Calgary Stampeders 15 Toronto Argonauts 48 (July 12, 2007)
| 2
|
| |||
|
0 votes 
0 commentsMichael Bishop threw three touchdown passes before being injured while Toronto's defence forced nine turnovers as the Argonauts throttled the Calgary Stampeders 48-15 at Rogers Centre on Thursday night.
Bishop enjoyed a second straight solid start, completing 18-of-23 passes for 273 yards with two interceptions before suffering an undisclosed injury while running to the Calgary one-yard line early in the third. He went to hospital for further examination and backup Mike McMahon finished up before a Rogers Centre gathering of 29,304.
Safety Orlondo Steinauer had three interceptions while linebacker Kevin Eiben had a pick and two fumble recoveries as Toronto's defence didn't allow a TD for the second straight game. Thirty-eight of the Argos' points came off turnovers.
Toronto (2-1) recorded their seventh straight home victory over Calgary, whose last win here came in 2000. As impressive as the Argos were, they did have five turnovers (four interceptions, one fumble).
Whatever could go wrong did for Calgary (1-2), which had five interceptions, three fumbles, a blocked punt and another turnover on downs. Quarterbacks Henry Burris and Akili Smith both played but neither did much as the Stampeders suffered their second humiliating road loss in less than a week. On Sunday, they were embarrassed 49-8 in Regina.
Then again, Calgary was a CFL-worst 2-7 away from McMahon Stadium last year. The Stampeders and Argos meet again next weekend in Alberta.
Andre Talbot, Tony Miles, Arland Bruce III, Jeff Johnson, Derrell Mitchell and rookie Andre Durie had Toronto's touchdowns. Noel Prefontaine added two field goals and six converts.
Jeremaine Copeland and Brandon Browner had Calgary's TDs. Sandro DeAngelis had the converts while Burke Dales added a single. All of the points came in the fourth.
Three Bishop TD strikes staked Toronto to its 27-0 half-time lead in a sloppy first half that featured nine turnovers, including six by Calgary (four interceptions, two fumbles).
Bishop, who had his first pass intercepted, hit Talbot with a nine-yard touchdown at 7:33 of the first before finding Miles on a 26-yard strike 1:24 into the second to put Toronto ahead 17-0.
Calgary's Calvin Bannister snuffed out a potential Toronto scoring drive with an end zone interception, and it was on his return that tempers flared after he was tackled at the Calgary bench. A melee ensued and veteran Stampeders equipment manager George Hopkins was sent flying but surprisingly, no ejections ensued.
After Steinauer's interception at the goal-line, Bishop marched Toronto 92 yards on eight plays, capping it with a 14-yard TD pass to Bruce at 13:33.
NOTES: Mitchell had 65 yards receiving, leaving him 28 short of Paul Masotti's club-record career mark of 8,772 yards. Masotti was on hand in case Mitchell eclipsed his record . . . The Rogers Centre roof remained closed for the game due to setup for a weekend Roger Waters concert . . . . Durie, whose football career seemed over two years ago when he suffered a horrific knee injury at York, made his first CFL start on special teams before scoring on a 33-yard run in the fourth on his first CFL carry . . . Calgary had Bishop on its negotiation list before dealing him to Toronto in 2002.
courtesy of cfl.ca
Date
July 12, 2007
