Stampeders 42 Roughriders 27

Rod Pedersen 

The Saskatchewan Roughriders (5-0) visited the Calgary Stampeders (4-1) Friday night at McMahon Stadium in Week 7 of the 2013 schedule.  It was a showdown for first-place in the CFL’s West Division.  Here’s the game log from the broadcast booth:

 

– It was sunny and 20 degrees Celsius with a south, southeast wind gusting to 31 km/h at the 7:00 pm kickoff in the foothills.

 

– The Riders wore their road white uniforms with white pants and white helmets while the Stampeders wore their home reds with black pants and red helmets.

 

– The Rider scratches from their 46-man roster were: LB Carlos Thomas, DB Woodny Turrenne, REC Eron Riley and KR Matt Brown.

 

– The Riders won the coin toss and deferred to the second half.  Calgary got the ball and the wind to open the game.  The Stampeders’ opening drive began at their 32-yard line with Kevin Glenn.  They were 2-and-out after back-to-back incomplete passes.

 

– Saskatchewan’s first drive commenced at their 10-yard line after a penalty on the Riders’ Prince Miller on the punt return.  The Riders’ Kory Sheets fumbled on 2nd down at the Stamps recovered at the Rider 14.

 

– On the next play Calgary tailback Jon Cornish took a direct snap and easily walked into the Rider endzone for an early 7-0 lead, just2:38 into the game.

 

– The Riders’ second series started at their 24 but they were 2-and-out again.

 

– Calgary went up 13-0 on a 2-yard Cornish run with 6:05 to go in the first quarter.  It was a 60-yard drive, almost all along the ground.  The Parades point after was blocked by the Riders’ Craig Butler.

 

– Saskatchewan’s third series started at their 26.  They managed one first down, a Darian Durant-to-Geroy Simon hook-up, before punting.

 

AFTER ONE: STAMPS 13 RIDERS 0

 

– On the second play of the second period, Calgary kicker Rene Parades hit a 26-yard field goal for a 16-0 lead.

 

– Riders’ first series of the second quarter came at their 35 after the field goal.  They marched it all the way down field and capped the drive with a 20-yard Durant-to-Chris Getzlaf touchdown pass.  16-7 Stamps with 9:56 to go in the second quarter.  It was a 75-yard drive.

 

– Stamps went up 23-7 on a 32-yard Jon Cornish rushing touchdown with 2:06 to go in the half.  It was his third of the game.

 

– With 1:50 to go in the half the Riders got the ball back at their 46 hoping to put some points on the board before the break.  However they were 2-and-out after two incomplete passes.

 

– On the final play of the first half Parades stroked a 30-yard field goal.

 

– In the first half, Rider tailback Kory Sheets has eight yards rushing on four carries.  Darian Durant was 7/14 for 121 yards and a TD.

 

AT THE BREAK: STAMPEDERS 26 RIDERS 7

 

– Riders got the ball and the wind to start the second half, beginning at their 39-yard line.  The first play was a 32-yard Sheets run.  They got down to the Calgary 21 before kicker Chris Milo lined up a 28-yard field goal.  It was good, making him 13/13 on the year, and Saskatchewan cut into the Calgary lead, making it 26-10 just 2:55 into the third quarter.

 

– Stamps took over at their 35 but were 2-and-out on their first series.

 

– Riders’ second series commenced at their 35.  They moved it 75-yards downfield and Durant lobbed a 3-yard touchdown pass to Chris Getzlaf to make it 25-17 Stamps with 8:07 left in the third frame.  

 

– Stamps 3-and-out on their second series.

 

– Riders 3-and-out on their third series stopping their 10-0 run, temporarily.  Kory Sheets went to 74 yards rushing cumulative to this point.

 

– First sack of the game came from John Chick on Kevin Glenn with 3:33 to go in the third, forcing a punt.  Jock Sanders returned it to the Calgary 46.

 

– On the next drive Kory Sheets kept motoring up to 96 yards and knocked Calgary DB Brandon Smith out of the game, temporarily, with a crushing blow on a 21-yard run.  They capped the drive with a 13-yard Milo field goal making it 26-20 Calgary with 0:54 to go in the third.  Riders on a 13-0 run.

 

AFTER THREE: STAMPS 26 RIDERS 20

 

– Riders went 2-and-out on their first series of the fourth quarter, in the opening two minutes.  They gave up their first sack of the game in the series.

 

– Stamps 2-and-out on their first series of the final frame.

 

– Riders got it back at their 5-yard line with 11:18 to go.  They gave up their second sack of the game and Durant narrowly avoided giving up a safety.  On the next play he gave up the safety, being sacked in the endzone.  28-20 Stamps with 10:15 to go.  That ended the 13-0 run

 

– After the kickoff the Stamps marched it 55-yards downfield and three consecutive passes to Nik Lewis, including a 25-yard TD reception, made it 35-20 Calgary with 8:10 to go.

 

– Riders got it back, starting at their 25, with 8:10 to go.  Sheets went over 100 yards for a sixth-straight game in the fourth quarter.  The Rider record is nine 100-yard games in a season, held by George Reed.  He came out late in the drive, allowing Jock Sanders to score on a 23-yard touchdown reception from Durant.  It was an 85-yard drive.  35-27 Calgary with 5:01 to go.

 

– Stamps took over at their 26 with 4:44 to go.  Jon Cornish ripped off a 54-yard romp down to the Rider 1-yard line on the series.  Two plays later Cornish ran it in for his fourth touchdown of the game.  42-27 Stamps with 2:34 to go.

 

– With 2:25 to go the Riders got it back at their 40, down 15.  They got to the Calgary 30 before Durant had the ball knocked out of his hands and the Stamps recovered with 1:20 left.

 

– Kevin Glenn took over and knelt down three times to grind out the clock.

 

GAME OVER: STAMPEDERS 42 ROUGHRIDERS 27

 

POSTGAME COMMENTS FROM RIDER HEAD COACH COREY CHAMBLIN:

 

– Our whole thing is we wanna go undefeated every week.  We didn’t go 1-0 tonight.  That’s the biggest thing.  We’re tied for first-place.  They’re a good football team but what I saw tonight is they’re a good football team also.

 

– They’re at home and they were playing for something.  We were too but at the end of the day, we won last time and this time they won it.  Sheets had some good runs and Cornish had some good runs.  It was hard to contain those guys tonight.

 

– The penalties and the turnovers are gonna happen.  We have to learn.  There’s nothing perfect about life or football.  We’ll get back on track and get ready to go.

 

– We’re a good team but they did a good job of holding us off.  We were strong but they had the last punch.

 

– The biggest thing is we gotta stay together and learn from these situations.  It’s two good teams and we’ll see where we go from here.

 

– We made a couple of mistakes.  No excuse coming off the bye or whatever.  We gotta be cleaner with what we do.  We can be better going through this next third of the season.

 

– Montreal’s gonna be fired up coming in next week.  We just have to be better at what we do.