CFL Friday: Stampeders Ousted, Bombers Roll Ticats

VANCOUVER — The loss that extinguished the Calgary Stampeders playoff dreams Friday night provided some déjà vu for head coach Dave Dickenson. 

The Stamps held the B.C. Lions in check through the first half, but stuttered out of the locker room, committing a series of mistakes that ultimately resulted in a 32-15 loss. 

“It’s been a rough year anyway, but kind of the same thing happened in this game has happened a lot,” Dickenson said. “Yeah, we’re fighting, we’re making some good plays, we might have a lead, and then, back to back, we gave up two defensive scores and kind of just iced the game.”

Heading into the matchup, Calgary (4-10-1) needed to win its final four games of the regular season to have any hope of securing a playoff berth. 

Instead, the Stamps stretched their winless skid to seven games — the longest such stretch the franchise has seen since 1977. 

This fall will mark the first time in 19 campaigns that Calgary will not play post-season football. 

B.C.’s chances of securing a playoff spot improved Friday, but the Lions (8-8) still need the Saskatchewan Roughriders to beat the Edmonton Elks on Saturday to earn a playoff berth.

Asked after the win whether B.C.’s team performance would be enough come the post-season, quarterback Nathan Rourke was blunt.

“I think in the other phases, it absolutely is. But I think offensively, we can’t play like that,” he said. “We came out flat in the first half. We didn’t score points in the red zone, and we’re going to have to do that. 

“We did some good things elsewhere. I think we did improve in a lot of areas from last week. But I just don’t think that that’s going to win against playoff teams.”

UP NEXT:

The Lions face the Roughriders in their final road game of the season on Oct. 12. The Stampeders host the Elks in Calgary the same night. 

HAMILTON — Brady Oliveira and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers continue to roll along.

Oliveira ran for a season-high 147 yards and a touchdown to power Winnipeg past the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 31-10 on Friday night. 

The Bombers (10-6) earned their eighth straight win to move five points ahead of second-place Saskatchewan (7-7-1) in the West Division. Winnipeg clinched a home playoff game and will cement first — and home field for the West Division final Nov. 9 — if Saskatchewan suffers a loss or tie Saturday night against Edmonton (5-10).

Oliveira was especially effective in the second half as Winnipeg dominated on both sides of the ball. Its offence scored two touchdowns while the defence held Hamilton to no second-half points for the first time this season. The Blue Bombers held possession for more than 38 minutes of the game.

Oliveira has run for a CFL-leading 1,254 yards. The league’s top Canadian last year also recorded his league-leading sixth 100-yard rushing performance.

“I thought philosophically the Ticats were giving us good boxes to run into and Brady and the boys up front really carried us,” said Bombers quarterback Zach Collaros. “That offence (Hamilton) has really been rolling over there and they (Bombers defence) did a great job of mitigating what they could do and causing turnovers.”

Terry Wilson’s one-yard TD run — his second of the game — at 6:51 of the fourth sealed the win for Winnipeg before a Tim Hortons Field crowd of 22,241.

Hamilton (6-10) suffered its first loss in five games to deal its precarious playoff hopes a severe blow. The Ticats remain four points behind idle Toronto (8-7) in the race for third in the East Division with two games remaining and the Argonauts having a contest in hand.

Hamilton’s loss earned idle Ottawa (8-6-1) a playoff berth, its first since losing the ’18 Grey Cup to Calgary.

“I thought we played physical we just didn’t establish the run they did,” said Hamilton quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell. “They moved guys and got Oliveira to the second level and we just weren’t able to establish that.

“It’s just frustrating to look back at the season and wonder, ‘What if,’ on certain games. It’s just taken too long to get to where we got to the last five weeks. Now we have minimal time and opportunity to make it happen.”

UP NEXT — Hamilton: Bye week.

Winnipeg: Hosts Toronto (8-7) on Friday night.

(Canadian Press)