VANCOUVER - Sandro DeAngelis had to kick the winning points twice but Calgary Stampeders quarterback Henry Burris says Saturday's 28-26 victory over the B.C. Lions was just "another day at the office."
There was no time left when DeAngelis stroked a 22-yard field goal after the Stampeders had marched to the B.C. 15-yard line.
But Calgary was called for procedure and penalized five yards. DeAngelis then nailed the clinching field goal from 27 yards out.
"We actually rehearsed this same situation in practice, 1:30, 1:35 (remaining on the clock)," said Burris who engineered an 80-yard drive that moved Calgary into sole possession of first place in the CFL's West Division.
"The coach gives us no time outs and we've got to march down and give Sandro a chance to make a field goal.
"That's why you didn't see any panic on our side ... just like another day at the office."
Calgary coach John Hufnagel said his club won because it was the last to have the ball.
"You have to be able to execute that type of assignment in the CFL, because that's what so many games come down to," Hufnagel said. "But we practise it, like every other team, and it was good to see the players responded and made the plays."
Calgary improved to 10-6-1 and face the Saskatchewan Roughriders next week in Regina with first place and a bye into the West final on the line. Saskatchewan lost 24-6 to Hamilton to give the Stamps a chance to break the first-place tie.
The loss was a second heartbreaker in as many weeks for the Lions (8-9).
They are tied with the Edmonton Eskimos for third in the West and are still looking to clinch a playoff berth going into the final weekend of the season. The Lions play Edmonton in Vancouver on Friday.
Quarterback Casey Printers, signed as a free agent in September, took B.C. to overtime in a 33-30 loss in Regina on Oct 24.
On Saturday, he found Paris Jackson on the end of a 46-yard scoring strike that gave the Lions a 26-25 advantage with one minute 35 seconds left.
But Burris completed three passes totalling 39 yards to Jeremaine Copeland, before Joffrey Reynolds ran 29 yards to set the table for DeAngelis.
"That's the kind of ball you want to be playing this time of the year," said Reynolds, who had 102 yards on 14 carries, his third 100-yard game against the Lions this season.
"We just stuck with it," Reynolds said. "In the fourth quarter we wanted to impose our will."
The Lions, who lost 48-10 to Calgary at home earlier this season, throttled the Stampeders for three quarters.
"We left a lot on the field and we were aware of that," said Burris who was 17-of-31 for 306 yards passing, including a five-yard strike to Nik Lewis for the slotback's first TD of the season.
Burris scored twice on one-yard plunges and threw to Reynolds for a two-point convert. The Stampeders also scored a safety and a 64-yard single by Burke Dales.
"Tonight was one of those nights where we couldn't get things going but we scored when the time was right," said Burris.
The Lions got four field goals from Paul McCallum to lead 19-15 entering the final quarter.
Printers started the game by hitting his first five passes to set up a one-yard touchdown run by tailback A.J. Harris.
"The other team had Henry Burris, he's an honest kind of football player, and he led them right down the field," said Printers who completed 22-of-35 for 337 yards passing. "It was a great job by the Calgary Stampeders tonight.
"We took the fight to the end. It was just too bad that we came up short."
Printers' favourite targets were Geroy Simon with 103 receiving yards on eight catches and Emmanuel Arceneaux who had 110 yards on five receptions, including one for 60 that led to Harris's major.
B.C. coach Wally Buono, who has three other quarterbacks nursing injuries, said he saw improvement in Printers' second start.
"The tough part about it is that we were up with a minute and 30 (to go) and we couldn't hold them," Buono said.
"That last drive, we played some zone and they hurt us. We played some blitz. They hurt us. We just couldn't make a play when it really counted."
