Stampeders 44 Argonauts 9
CALGARY — Joffrey Reynolds got the ball rolling for Calgary and the defence did the rest as the Stampeders trounced the Toronto Argonauts 44-9 on Friday night.
Reynolds scored touchdowns on the ground and through the air for Calgary (1-2), before the defence took over the game in the second half with three scores of their own.
“The defence was able to hold them the whole game and we got a couple touchdowns early and it was kind of a snowball effect after that,” said Reynolds, who staked the Stamps to a 20-9 lead before the defence returned a fumble and two interceptions for touchdowns.
“They really picked it up,” added Reynolds. “Any time you can get 21 points off of turnovers, any coach or anyone will tell you that will win you the game.”
The game broke open when Stampeders linebacker Dwaine Carpenter stripped the ball from Argos quarterback Kerry Joseph on the final play of the third quarter and returned it 55 yards for a touchdown to make it 27-9.
“It kind of surprised me that it rolled around for a bit,” said Carpenter, who eventually corralled the ball and took off for the end zone.
“I was OK, ’let me pick it up and run for the hills.”’
On the Argos next series, Calgary defensive back Dwight Anderson picked off a Joseph pass and ran it back 52 yards for another score.
Later in the fourth quarter, cornerback Brandon Browner intercepted Joseph again and returned 25 yards for a third defensive touchdown.
“The defence came out and took the ball away from them and scored three touchdowns,” said Calgary head coach and G.M. John Hufnagel. “It was a great effort by our (defence).”
Sandro DeAngelis added three field goals for the Stampeders in front of a crowd of 33,109 at McMahon Stadium.
All the Argos (1-2) could muster was three first-half field goals from Justin Medlock.
“What you saw was poor execution all the way around,” said first-year Argos head coach Bart Andrus.
“We need to correct things in a lot of areas. Calgary deserves credit. They showed why they are defending Grey Cup champions.”
Toronto receiver Arland Bruce was not impressed at all with the effort by the Argos.
“We lost bad man,” said a visibly-dejected Bruce.
“(Losing) 44-9 is not Argo football. Everything hit the fan in the second half.”
On Calgary’s second possession of the night, quarterback Henry Burris engineered a 10-play, 75-yard drive that was capped off by a one-yard touchdown run by Reynolds. It was Reynolds’s 33rd career rushing touchdown with the Stampeders, moving him past Willie Burden into fifth on Calgary’s all-time list.
“We were able to move the ball early on and get some good things going and pin their team deep,” said Burris, who completed 23-of-32 passes for 348 yards.
“The defence did a great job of containing a great quarterback in (Joseph) and a great running back and passing game. We just fed off of that and we took advantage of our opportunities.”