Calgary Stampeders defeat B.C. Lions 35-23 at McMahon Stadium
The stage was set for Jon Cornish to star.
But he ended up sharing the spotlight with Eric Rogers.
Buoyed by the return of their star running back, the Calgary Stampeders, instead, relied on the one guy that has been consistently doing damage all season long, riding Rogers’ six receptions for 115 yards to a 35-23 win over the B.C. Lions on Friday night.
Cornish wasn’t left out, though.
Most of the 31,586 in the McMahon Stadium seats were hoping to see Cornish, who returned from a six-game absence due to a broken thumb against his hometown team, run wild on the ground, but they were treated to another night of Bo Levi Mitchell hooking up with Rogers time and time again. Cornish, however, provided the exclamation point on the Stampeders’ ninth win of the season by rumbling 16 yards up the middle for a huge insurance touchdown late in the game, finishing with 41 yards on 12 carries, as the Stamps (9-3) were careful not to overwork the 2013 CFL MOP in his first game since July 24.
Rogers became the first receiver in the CFL to surpass the 1,000-yard mark, and the 24-year-old rising star now leads the league in receptions (64), yards (1,044) and is tied for the lead in touchdowns with seven.
“It just means I’ve got a lot of opportunities,” Rogers said of the accomplishment. “I started off the year kind of slow in percentage of targets and catches and we’re doing better the past four or five games. We’re just growing as a quarterback-receiver duo.”
Mitchell isn’t surprised one bit.
“No, not really,” Mitchell said. “The guy works hard and he loves this game. He’s not a selfish guy, he’s not a me guy, he’s not, ‘Hey, throw me the ball.’ He’s going to go out there and he’s going to run his routes hard every single time, and when he gets the ball thrown to him he’s going to make some plays.”
On the second series of the game, Rogers showed off the package of skills that has allowed him to get to this point all on one play — hands, toughness, jumping ability, all of it.
“Eric had another great game for us,” Stamps GM/head coach John Hufnagel said. “That one catch that he made on whatever it was, the 15-yard line, climbing the ladder, it was an excellent catch.”
“I thought I was going to take a shot, but there was nobody there,” Rogers said. “It’s always easier to jump high when you’ve got a target to go for. Bo put it up high in the only place I can go get it, and I went and made a play.”
After losing last week in Edmonton, the Stamps, once again, avoid back-to-back losses — July 2012 was the last time that happened — and will have at least a one-game lead in the West Division coming out of Week 13, pending the Eskimos-Hamilton Tiger-Cats result Saturday afternoon.
Offensive fireworks were few and far between on this night, but the same couldn’t be said for the return game.
On the strength of a Mitchell-to-Jeff-Fuller 38-yard TD connection and an eight-yard hookup through the air with Tory Harrison, Stampeders took an 18-6 lead into the locker-room.
But that lead was quickly cut to five points when Lions return-man Chris Rainey took the opening kickoff of the second half 103 yards to the house.
Rene Paredes tacked on a 42-yard field goal to make it an eight-point lead, but Rainey was at it again early in the fourth quarter, doubling down on his 103-yard sprints, this time taking a punt to the endzone from the exact same distance.
The Lions converted the two-point attempt to tie the game 21-21 with just over 12 minutes to play, but it was all Stamps from there.
Mitchell hit Rogers for a 20-yard gain on the next series — Mitchell connected on 21-of-34 passes for 268 yards and two TDs — and Cornish took it down to the one-yard line, where third-string QB Bryant Moniz punched in his second rushing touchdown of the year to make it 28-21.
“You have to find a way to answer, and we did,” Hufnagel said. “That got us back into control of the game.”
In addition to knocking Lions starting quarterback John Beck out of the game with a shoulder injury in the second quarter — he was replaced by Jonathon Jennings, who finished 15-of-27 for 252 yards, turning the ball over four times for good measure — Stamps defensive co-ordinator Rich Stubler’s defence was its usual stingy self on this night, forcing six turnovers, including Micah Johnson’s fumble recovery thanks to a bad quarterback-running back exchange that led to a Cornish 16-yard touchdown run to extend the lead to 35-21 midway through the fourth quarter.
“We’ve gotta get Jon into the second level more than we did,” Hufnagel said. “You can see the damage he can do when we get him into the second level.”
The Stamps will head to Winnipeg to face the Blue Bombers (4-7) next Friday, while the Lions (4-7) and embattled head coach Jeff Tedford will be fighting for their playoff lives down the stretch.
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