SATURDAY SPORTS PAGE: BOMBERS LICK STAMPS!

CALGARY – Demerio Houston has a new football for his mantle after his first professional interception for a touchdown was the difference on Friday night.

Houston’s 45-yard interception return on the final play of the third quarter gave the Blue Bombers the lead for good as Winnipeg held off the Calgary Stampeders 19-18.

With the Blue Bombers trailing 12-9, Houston stepped in front of Calgary quarterback Jake Maier’s pass intended for Marken Michel with Winnipeg kicker Segio Castillo’s extra point making it 16-12.

Blue Bombers coach Mike O’Shea said it was the pick-me-up his team needed.

“It certainly turned the tide for us. Gave guys a lot of energy on the sidelines, and I think we needed that spark,” O’Shea said. “Well read, great break, sure hands, finish it off in the end zone. Lots to like about that.”

Castillo made four field goals in the defence-first victory as Winnipeg (8-2) won its fourth straight.

Blue Bombers’ quarterback Dru Brown finished 17-of-27 for 171 yards, starting in place of the injured Zach Collaros.

Maier’s 11-of-24 pass attempts for 190 yards for Calgary (3-7) and the pick to Houston.

Kicker Rene Paredes went 6 for 8 on field goals to provide all the scoring for Calgary. The veteran came into the game with 18 straight field goals made, but missed his third attempt of the game to end the streak at 20.

UP NEXT – The Stampeders (3-7) head to Toronto on Friday to try and knock off the Argonauts (7-1) for a second time this season.

The Blue Bombers (8-2) return home where they’ll play host to Montreal (5-3) on Thursday.

NFL

ATLANTA (AP) – Desmond Ridder led an impressive drive for Atlanta in his preseason debut and the Falcons settled for a field goal with 2 seconds left for a 13-13 tie with the Cincinnati Bengals on Friday night.

After sitting the starters last week in a 19-3 victory at Miami, the Falcons (1-0-1) went with the ones for their opening possession.

After a snoozer of a game, the final minute provided some dramatics in a largely empty stadium, with a bunch of backups and roster hopefuls on the field.

Jake Browning guided an 80-yard drive to that put the Bengals (0-1-1) ahead 13-10 with 50 seconds remaining. He completed four passes for 42 yards and scrambled twice for another 33 yards, setting up Chase Brown’s 1-yard touchdown run with 50 seconds remaining.

But Atlanta third-stringer Logan Woodside connected on three straight passes for 53 yards before a third-down throw in the end zone was batted down. The Falcons then sent out Younghoe Koo for the tying 45-yard field goal.

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) – Daniel Jones played very much like a $40 million man in his preseason debut, throwing a touchdown pass to cap a near-perfect performance in leading New York past Carolina 21-19 and improving No. 1 overall draft pick Bryce Young.

Jones, who signed a four-year, $160 million in March, completed 8 of 9 passes for 69 yards on his only series, capping it with a 4-yard touchdown strike to Daniel Bellinger. Exciting tight end Darren Waller had three catches on the drive for 30 yards and also had a drop for the only incompletion.

Young, who did little in his NFL debut last week against the Jets, showed flashes and put points on the board for the first time, taking the Panthers (0-2) on a 15-yard, 62-yard drive that Matthew Wright capped early in the second quarter with the first of his two field goals. Young played two series and was 3 of 6 for 35 yards.

MLB

Jose Berrios struck out eight in five-and-two-thirds innings but the Blue Jays wasted his spectacular start as Toronto fell to the Cincinnati Reds 1-0. Christian Encarnacion-Strand homered in the ninth inning to break the scoreless tie for the Reds.

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Julio Rodriguez and Mike Ford homered as the Seattle Mariners extended their winning streak to four games with a 2-0 win over the Houston Astros. The Mariners took a half-game lead over Toronto in the race for the third, and final, American League wild-card spot. Seattle trails Houston by two-and-a-half games for the second wild-card spot.

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Fernando Tatis Junior capped San Diego’s four-run eighth inning with a two-run homer, and the Padres beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 4-0. San Diego won for the third time in four games, improving to 3-2 on a 10-game homestand. The Padres need a strong finish and some help to rally to an National League wild-card spot.

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Canada’s men’s basketball team wrapped up exhibition play ahead of the FIBA World Cup on a losing note. Lu Dort scored a team-high 13 points but it was not enough as Canada fell 94 – 88 to the Dominican Republic. Trae Bell-Haynes added 12 points off the bench, while R-J Barrett and Dillon Brooks each had 10 for Canada.

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Max Homa made 10 birdies for a 62 in the second round of the BMW Championship. That gives him a two-shot lead over Chris Kirk. Corey Conners is the low Canadian, seven shots back of Homa. The top 30 players in the FedEx Cup advance to the Tour Championship next week.

(CP)