The BC Lions were hoping to treat fans to one more game at B.C. Place this season. But the Calgary Stampeders got in their way on Saturday, doing most of the damage with their back-up quarterback, Barrick Nealy. Nealy ran for three touchdowns to lead Calgary to a 41-30 win in their final game of the regular season.
The Lions needed to win the game in order to secure home field advantage for the CFL's West Division semi-final against the Saskatchewan Roughriders on November 8. The game will now be held in Regina with the opening kick-off set for 1:30 p.m. (PST). Calgary will then host the winner of the Lions-Riders game in the West Division final on Nov. 15.
New Westminster, B.C., native, Jon Cornish, had a rushing touchdown for the Stamps (13-5), who swept all three games they played against the Lions this season.
Starting quarterback Henry Burris tossed a TD pass to Nik Lewis, while Sandro DeAngelis booted two field goals and four converts to finish as the CFL's leading scorer with 217 points, also a personal best for the fourth-year kicker.
B.C. quarterback Buck Pierce threw touchdown passes to Paris Jackson, Ryan Grice-Mullen and Stefan Logan, while Paul McCallum kicked a pair of field goals and a single.
Calgary receiver Ken-Yon Rambo finished the game with three catches for 81 yards to give him a total of 1,473 yards for the season. B.C. slotback Geroy Simon, who was trailing Rambo by one yard heading into the game, finished second with 1,418 yards.
B.C. and Calgary traded field goals in the first quarter, before the Lions went up 4-3 in the second when they had to settle for a single when McCallum's 37-yard field goal attempt went wide right.
Burris then marched the Stamps on a six-play, 75-yard scoring drive, culminating in a 21-yard touchdown run by Cornish, his first in the CFL.
B.C. answered right back when Pierce tossed an 18-yard touchdown pass to Paris Jackson to cap off an eight-play, 85-yard drive.
The Stamps then replied when Burris tossed an 11-yard pass to Lewis, who made a nice catch at the goal-line for his career-high 10th touchdown of the season.
After his 43-yard attempt into the wind came up short at the end of the first half, McCallum redeemed himself by hitting a field goal from the exact same distance going the other way early in the third quarter.
Nealy came into the game in the third quarter for Burris and scored his first-ever CFL touchdown on a one-yard plunge into the end zone.
Not to be outdone, Grice-Mullen caught a short pass from Pierce, eluded a pair of tackles and ran for a 67-yard touchdown for his first-career TD.
After Lemarcus Rowell picked off an errant pass by Pierce, Nealy scrambled for a 14-yard rushing touchdown to put the Stamps up 31-21.
The Lions pulled to within three points once again when Pierce tossed a six-yard TD pass to Logan.
Nealy then ran for another one-yard score early in the fourth quarter to put the Stamps up 38-28 before Calgary punter Burke Dales conceded a safety to pull the Lions within eight points.
That was as close as they would get though, as Calgary's defence held on to shut down the B.C. offensive attack.
Notes: The Stamps finished the season with the league's leading scorer (DeAngelis), rusher (Joffrey Reynolds) and receiver (Rambo). The last team to accomplish the feat was the 1973 Edmonton Eskimos, when Dave Cutler led the league in scoring, Roy Bell won the rushing title and George McGowan led all receivers in yardage. ... Burris played the first half and completed 11 of 18 passes for 165 yards to finish the season with 5,094 yards passing. It's the first time he cracked the 5,000 yard mark in his career. ... B.C. defensive end Cam Wake finished the game with three sacks to give him a league-leading 23 on the season.
