CALGARY — The only team to beat the Calgary Stampeders at home this season did it again Friday as the B.C. Lions downed the hosts 36-31 at McMahon Stadium.
B.C.’s victory foiled Calgary’s bid to secure first place in the West Division, but the Stampeders (11-5) could still do that this weekend should the Saskatchewan Roughriders fall to Edmonton on Saturday.
Calgary faces Hamilton at home next week and concludes the regular season on the road versus Winnipeg.
The Lions (6-10) continue to battle for their playoff lives with games remaining against Saskatchewan next week and then Hamilton.
B.C. handed Calgary their first loss at home this season Sept. 25 with 29-10 victory. After two straight losses in overtime, the Lions were relieved to finally pull a victory out of a close game.
“Our team’s hung in all year,” Lions coach Wally Buono said. “We’ve lost too many of those kind of games, but tonight our defence did a nice job especially late in the game. It was a great win for us.”
Paul McCallum’s three field goals in the fourth quarter pushed the visitors ahead after Calgary took a 31-27 lead in the third quarter. The veteran was good on all four of his attempts. Quarterback Travis Lulay, Richard Jones and Emmanuel Arceneaux scored touchdowns for B.C.
Nik Lewis had a pair of touchdown catches for Calgary in front of 28,054 at McMahon. Ken-Yon Rambo and Keon Raymond also scored TD’s and Rob Maver kicked a field goal.
Elsewhere in the CFL on Friday, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats shocked the East-Division-leading Montreal Alouettes 40-3.
Calgary was poised for the winning touchdown in the final minute, working from a first down from the 23-yard line. Receiver Arjei Franklin was uncovered in the end zone, but lost his footing on the catch and dropped Henry Burris’ pass.
Burris’ next attempt to Lewis was knocked down by Tad Crawford and the Calgary quarterback was then intercepted by Anthony Reddick with 14 seconds left.
“This one’s on me,” Franklin said. “It hurts definitely, but I’ll be back. I’m a professional. I’ll be back out there to get the job done.”
Burris said Franklin didn’t deserve blame. The Lions raced out to a 20-0 lead before Calgary began reeling them in in the second quarter. The Stampeders couldn’t get their running game on track with leading rusher Joffrey Reynolds limited to eight yards on four carries.
“We can’t let them get up 20-nothing on us,” Burris said. “We’ve got to get off to a better start than that. We had opportunities in the second half and you’ve got to cash in. Letting them hang around came back to haunt us.
“I guess B.C. has our number right now. I don’t know what it is, but we’ve got to be better than that going down the stretch and going into the playoffs.”
After studiously keeping the ball away from Lions returner Yonus Davis, who blitzed Calgary for 244 return yards Sept. 25, Davis had two huge punt returns of 46 and 49 yards in the fourth quarter that led to two of the three field goals.
“Try to keep the ball away from me. I’m going to find that thing,” Davis said.
Lulay completed 16-of-25 pass attempts for 255 yards and one touchdown. He was intercepted twice. Burris was 27 for 42 and 373 yards with three touchdowns and one interception.
McCallum was good from 35 yards at 5:54, 27 yards at 9:50 and 33 yards at 12:38 of the fourth quarter.
“We’ve got to fight, scratch and claw,” McCallum said. “It’s been a really difficult year for us all around and I just think that it’s good to see that we can come in here and get another road win against Calgary.”
Lewis had a big night in a losing cause for Calgary with 149 yards on seven carries. He hammered B.C.’s Adam Leonard while blocking for Burris in the third quarter.
After a wild first half, Maver’s 20-yard field goal was the only score of the third quarter, but it gave Calgary a 31-27 lead. After falling behind 20-0, Calgary wrested momentum back in the second quarter with four touchdowns, but gave up another TD to B.C. before the end of the half.
Lewis’s second scoring catch of the night was spectacular as he spun clockwise in the air to haul in Burris’ 19-yard pass. It capped a 10-play, 90-yard march by the hosts and gave them 28-27 lead heading into the half.
B.C.’s Lulay and Arceneaux combined on a 74-yard touchdown pass at 12:31. As he was dragged down by Calgary’s Charleston Hughes, Lulay coughed up the ball to Raymond who ran the ball back 47 yards for a touchdown at 11:36.
Burris connected with Lewis, who broke Crawford’s tackle and dove over Stanley Franks for a 10-yard TD at 9:53. Rambo had to lean out of the end zone to catch Burris’ 27-yard throw, but the receiver kept his back foot on the other side of the goal-line to make it count at 4:04.
B.C. scored a defensive touchdown to end the first quarter and opened the second with a field goal for a 20-point cushion. Leonard knocked the ball loose from Calgary running back Jon Cornish and Jones recovered the ball and rumbled 50 yards for the touchdown at 14:16 of the first quarter.
The Lions scored quickly off the opening kickoff. Lulay and Steven Black combined on a 65-yard passing play, with Black breaking three Stampeder tackles to get down to the 11-yard line. Lulay ran the ball in for the touchdown.
Notes: Calgary and B.C. split their season series 2-2 with their wins on the road and losses at home . . . Canadian running back Jesse Lumsden made his debut as a Stampeder. In his first game since injuring his shoulder in the 2009 season-opener with Edmonton, Lumsden was put to work on special teams blocking for the returners.