There will be no hometown party for the Calgary Stampeders at the 97th Grey Cup.
It’s Saskatchewan that will be representing the West in the Canadian Football League’s championship game on Nov. 29 in Calgary as the Roughriders defeated the Stampeders 27-17 in the West Final on Sunday at Regina’s Mosaic Stadium.
Third-quarter touchdown catches by Andy Fantuz and Rob Bagg put the Roughriders ahead to stay as Saskatchewan earned a Grey Cup date with the Montreal Alouettes while foiling the Stamps’ bid to repeat as CFL champions.
Assisted by interceptions from James Patrick and Eddie Davis, the Riders defence contained the Calgary offence in the second half until a late touchdown catch by Jeremaine Copeland.
The teams were tied 10-10 at the half as the Stampeders took a 10-point lead and the Roughriders replied to pull even before the midway break.
“We had a good first quarter,” said Stampeders head coach/general manager John Hufnagel. “Then they got the momentum when they had a good second quarter. Then we came out in the second half and they got a big kickoff return (by Jason Armstead) to put them in a control postion and it kind of took the wind out of our sails.”
“What can I say?” said Stampeders running back Joffrey Reynolds, who scored the Stamps’ first touchdown. “It just came down to us not making plays and them making plays.”
The playoff loss comes after a regular-season series that saw the Stamps go 0-2-1 against the Roughriders.
“You have to say Saskatchewan deserved it,” said Hufnagel. “We played them four times and we weren’t able to beat them even one time.”
Sandro DeAngelis opened the scoring less than three minutes into the contest as he kicked a 47-yard field goal to give Calgary a 3-0 advantage. Early in the second quarter, West Division Most Outstanding Player nominee Reynolds ran the ball in from 17 yards out and, with the convert, it was 10-0 for the Stamps.
The Riders responded with a scoring drive that was capped by a 10-yard touchdown pass from Darian Durant to Chris Getzlaf. Luca Congi’s 18-yard field goal made it 10-10.
Calgary had penalty trouble in the first half as nine of the 11 flags thrown were against the visitors.
INDIVIDUAL
PASSING
Cal: Burris 22-34-278-1-3; Sask: Durant 18-25-204-3-0, Armstead 1-1-42-0-0
RUSHING
Cal: Reynolds 12-90-1, Burris 4-33; Sask: Cates 14-57, Durant 5-29, Jyles 3-8, Armstead 1-6, Szarka 1-3, Foord 5-2
RECEIVING
Cal: Franklin 3-76, Copeland 6-71-1, Lewis 4-45, Bryant 4-32, Reynolds 3-30, Summers 2-24; Sask: Fantuz 5-89-1, Bagg 3-73-1, Cates 3-25, Getzlaf 3-21-1, Foord 2-14, Nicolson 1-11, Walker 1-10, Szarka 1-3
NOTABLES
Cal: Robede 5 TK 1 SK 1 FR, Hughes 8 TK 1 SK, James 5 TK, Claybrooks 5 TK; Sask: Armstead 3-99 KOR, Williams 10 TK 3 SK, Kornegay 6 TK, Chick 5 TK 1 STT 1 SK, Patrick 4 TK 2 SK, Davis 2 TK 1 SK
