Rod Pedersen
Riderville.com
The Saskatchewan Roughriders visited the Calgary Stampeders Sunday afternoon at McMahon Stadium in the 2012 Canadian Football League Western Semifinal. The Riders went in with an 8-10 regular season while the Stampeders were 12-6. Saskatchewan carried a 4-game playoff win streak against Calgary into the match. Here’s the game log from the broadcast booth:
– The Rider scratches were CB/KR Tristan Jackson, OL Alexander Krausnick-Groh, LB Abraham Kromah and WR Kierrie Johnson.
– It was minus-4 degrees Celsius at the 2:30 pm local time kickoff with a west southwest wind at 22 km/h making the windchill minus-11.
– The Riders wore their retro white road uniforms with green helmets and pants while the Stamps were in their home reds with black pants and red helmets.
– Calgary won the coin toss and elected to take the football to open the game. The Riders defended the south endzone in the opening quarter. Calgary’s opening drive started at their 37. They were 2-and-out with Drew Tate at quarterback.
– The Riders’ first drive started at their 23-yard line and Darian Durant was sacked on the first play for a 10 yard loss. They went 2-and-out but were aided by a 57-yard Ricky Schmitt punt putting Calgary at their 35 for their second drive. It was Ricky Schmitt’s Rider debut.
– Calgary was 2-and-out on their second drive.
– Riders’ second drive started at their 40 and they got their first first down on a Taj Smith reception. They got to the Calgary 46 before giving up another big sack.
– On the Riders’ third series Darian Durant was picked off by Stamps DB Quincy Butler who returned it to the Calgary 44. They went 2-and-out.
– Riders opened the scoring on a 29-yard Sandro Deangelis field goal with 0:02 to go in the first quarter.
AFTER ONE: RIDERS 3 STAMPS 0
– The Stamps took the lead on a one-yard TD run by QB Bo Levi-Mitchell 2:52 into the second quarter for a 7-3 edge. Four major fouls on the Riders on the drive helped Calgary score.
– Stamps went up 14-3 on a 38-yard TD pass from Drew Tate to Jabari Arthur at the 9:30 mark.
– Riders cut the Stamps’ lead to 14-10 on an 11-yard TD reception by Kory Sheets from Darian Durant with 2:11 to go in the half.
– Riders took the lead with a 3-yard TD rec by Sheets from Durant with 0:12 to go making it 16-14, however the convert was blocked and Calgary’s Fred Bennett returned it all the way to the half for a 2-pointer making it 16-16.
– With 0:01 to go in the first half Calgary’s Rene Paredes lined up a 50-yard field goal and it was good to give Calgary the lead at the break.
AT THE HALF: STAMPS 19 RIDERS 16
– The Riders got the ball to open the second half starting at their 45. They were 2-and-out.
– Stamps started at their own 32. They got to the Rider 46 before punting.
– Riders’ second series started at their 18. They got to the Calgary 54 before punting.
– Calgary opened the second half scoring on a 1-yard Bo Levi-Mitchell rushing touchdown for a 26-16 lead at the 13:21 mark.
AFTER THREE: STAMPS 26 RIDERS 16
– Riders’ first series of the 4th quarter started at their 24. They went 2-and-out. Chris Getzlaf recorded his second drop of the game in first down territory on 2nd-and-6.
– The attendance was announced at 30,027.
– With 10:19 to go Stamps receiver Romby Bryant fumbled and Rider LB Mike McCullough recovered at his own 38. Durant hit Dressler 58 yards downfield to the Stamps’ 8. Next play Greg Carr caught an 8-yard TD pass from Durant making it 26-23 with 8:39 to go.
– Back and forth. With 3:44 to go the Stamps took over at their 13. They got to the Rider 33 before attempting a 40-yard Paredes field goal with 1:27 left. He was good. 29-23 Stamps.
– With 1:22 left the Riders took over at their 35. They took 30 seconds to move it downfield before Durant fired a 24-yard touchdown pass to Greg Carr for a 30-29 lead with 0:52 to go.
– With 0:47 to go the Stamps took over at their 29. With :20 to go Drew Tate heaved a 68-yard TD bomb to Romby Bryant for a 35-30 lead. They went for a two-point convert but failed.
– Parades hit a 90-yard kickoff single with 0:19 to go. 36-30 Calgary.
– Riders took over at their 19. First play Durant hit Carr to the Calgary 51. On the next play Durant overthrew Getzlaf. 0:05 to go and it came down to 2-and-10 Riders at the Calgary 51. Durant threw the Hail Mary but it was picked off by Calgary’s Keon Raymond on the Stamps’ 1-yard line.
GAME OVER: STAMPEDERS 36 ROUGHRIDERS 30
POSTGAME COMMENTS FROM RIDER COACH COREY CHAMBLIN
– We had a good win there but we let it slip it away. Those aren’t the things that you want to remember at the end of your season. There’s a lot of pride there and a lot to build off for next year. I’m proud of the effort from this young team.
– We gotta be disciplined. We talked about playing smart and tough but we didn’t play smart in some positions.
– Early, whether they’re questionable calls or not, we gotta know when to pull off. They weren’t intentional but those are things we have to learn from.
– I thought we brought this team a long way from what we had. We retooled the whole roster. We got some stars there and I think we’ll be a contender next year.
– On the blocked convert I guess it was just meant for the Stamps to have it. I hope they represent the West and go all the way.
– This isn’t the end I expected because I thought we’d go all the way. There were some positives and negatives along the way.
– The biggest thing is what we were able to do. We got a playoff game and we were that close to moving on to the West Final.
