The Canadian Press
Donna Spencer
CALGARY–The Calgary Stampeders will get their shot at Grey Cup redemption.
Calgary advanced to the CFL’s championship game for a second-straight year yesterday by downing the visiting Edmonton Eskimos 32-28 in the West Division final.
The Stampeders, whose 13-4-1 regular-season record was the league’s best, will face the Toronto Argonauts for the title this coming Sunday in Ottawa.
The Argonauts (9-9) beat the Saskatchewan Roughriders 25-21 in the East Division final earlier yesterday.
After posting a 15-2-1 record in 2016, Calgary lost last year’s Grey Cup in a massive upset–falling 39-33 in overtime to the Ottawa Redblacks (8-9-1).
“Last year was a success but it didn’t mean a lot when you can’t finish,” said Stampeders’ head coach Dave Dickenson.
“Winning the West is not going to be enough,” he stressed.
“If we can’t finish the deal and get the job done against a great opponent, well-coached, it’s going to feel hollow again.”
The Stampeders appear in their fifth Grey Cup in a decade, with previous wins in 2008 and 2014.
Calgary had lost three in a row heading into yesterday’s game but the Stampeders recovered their winning form.
The defence held the CFL’s No. 1 offence to 18 points for three quarters.
And Calgary’s ground game clicked, with running backs Jerome Messam and Roy Finch each scoring a touchdown and combining for 152 rushing yards.
Finch, a finalist for the CFL’s best special teams player this year, totalled 233 yards in returns, receiving, and rushing.
Quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell threw a touchdown pass to Marquay McDaniel.
Mitchell, who has played through an undisclosed injury in his throwing arm for much of the season, completed 20-of-32 passes for 228 yards.
It was a harder road to the championship game in 2017 for the Stampeders and their quarterback.
“It means the world to me,” Mitchell said. “It’s what I play this game for.
“I expect to be back there every single year and do what I can to make sure I lead my team to the Grey Cup every single year.
“We did what we did in the regular season,” he added.
“But obviously coming into that three-game losing streak, we had a little bit of desperation going into this game–and doubt from a lot of people.”
Quarterback Mike Reilly, C.J. Gable, and Derel Walker scored touchdowns for the Eskimos, who finished third in the division at 12-6.
Reilly, the West nominee for the CFL’s Most Outstanding Player award, was 23-for-38 in passing for 348 yards.
Kicker Sean Whyte missed field-goal tries from 42 and 30 yards, but made them from 34 and 20 yards.
Trailing by a converted touchdown, the Eskimos chose to kick a 20-yard field goal with 1:43 to go instead of gambling on third-and-four.
Calgary later punted with 24 seconds to go. But Edmonton’s Jamill Smith fumbled the ball on the return and the Stampeders recovered to close out the win.
“We have faith in our whole football team that the defence was going to make the stop, the special teams were going to get the ball back for us, and the offence would do their job and go down and score,” said Eskimos’ head coach Jason Maas.
“Ultimately it didn’t turn out that way.”
Messam stretched over the goal-line to finish a 14-yard carry for a 30-15 lead in the third quarter.
The Eskimos scored on their first two possessions of the game, but the Stampeders countered with three-straight touchdowns in the second quarter for a 22-15 halftime lead.
What was a gentle breeze at kick-off accelerated to swirling gusts topping 30 km/h in the second half at McMahon Stadium, where the announced attendance was 30,116.
