Sunday Sports: Stampeders Keep Bombers Winless

CFL

Demerio Houston did his part and then watched as Rene Paredes emerged as the overtime hero.

Paredes kicked a 52-yard field goal in overtime to lead the Calgary Stampeders (2-1) to an exciting 22-19 win over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers (0-4) in front of 22,386 fans at McMahon Stadium on Saturday night.

“I got a little scared here at the end,” said Paredes, who finished the game with four field goals. “The wind pushed it a little bit to the left, so it got close to the post, but yeah, I’m glad it went in, glad we got the win against Winnipeg.”

Before Paredes’ winning kick, Houston picked off a pass by Winnipeg quarterback Chris Streveler in the end zone.

Calgary won the coin toss in OT and elected to play defence first and the Stamps were able to thwart the Blue Bombers’ comeback attempt thanks to Houston’s efforts.

“Just too many mistakes to win that tight one,” said Winnipeg coach Mike O’Shea. “We put ourselves in a bit of a bind a few times. I thought defensively we cleaned up the explosion plays.

“Offensively, we scored when we needed to, but just along the way in a tight game with where we’re at, once again it’s a handful of mistakes and it ends up being a few too many.”

Zach Collaros started the game at quarterback for Winnipeg and completed eight-of-12 passes for 55 yards in the first half. After being injured in the second quarter when he was hit hard by Stamps’ defensive lineman Josiah Coatney, Collaros came back in for two more plays before sitting out the remainder of the game.

In a relief appearance, Streveler completed 14-of-24 passes for 170 yards.

“We showed fight at the end of the game and I think we’re all going to look back and say we made some mistakes,” Streveler said. “We didn’t play good enough to win. We made mistakes in critical moments. You can’t throw an interception at the end of the game when we’re in field goal range.

“It’s frustrating but we’re going to take ownership of this, we’re going to have a good week of preparation next week and we’re going to keep fighting.”

UP NEXT

Blue Bombers: Host the Ottawa Redblacks (1-1) on Friday, July 5.

Stampeders: Visit the undefeated Montreal Alouettes (4-0) on Saturday, July 6.

MLB

The Toronto Blue Jays will be aiming to win their four-game series on Sunday against the visiting New York Yankees. The Jays, who beat the Yankees 9-2 on Thursday and 9-3 on Saturday, were whipped 16-5 on Friday. Right-hander Kevin Gausman (GAWZ’-mihn) will be on the mound Sunday for the 38-and-44 Jays, while the Yankees will counter with right-hander Gerrit Cole.

WCBL

Moose Jaw 9 Regina 8
Sylvan Lake 12 Weyburn 2
Lethbridge 7 Swift Current 3
Fort McMurray 10 Brooks 5
Okotoks 6 Medicine Hat 5

CEBL

Down three starters to injury in the second half, Saskatchewan finally ran out of steam. The short-handed Rattlers fell 94-87 to the Niagara River Lions on Saturday at the SaskTel Centre while playing without three of its top four scorers in Jalen Harris, Elijah Harkless and Maurice Calloo.

Harris was injured on the second-last play of the first half, staying down on the offensive baseline until halftime. He did not return for the remainder of the contest, with Rattlers head coach Larry Abney saying after the game that Harris hurt his knee and his ankle and that he needed to see doctors for more information.

SOCCER

Canada has advanced to the Copa America quarterfinals in its inaugural appearance at the international men’s soccer tournament. Canada and Peru played to a scoreless draw on Saturday in Orlando, Florida. Canada clinched second in Group A with a win, loss and tie behind unbeaten Argentina. Chile finished third and winless Peru was fourth. Canada’s next match is Friday in Arlington, Texas, against an opponent still to be determined.

NHL

Steven Stamkos is still on course to become a free agent even after the Tampa Bay Lightning cleared significant salary cap space with trades made at the weekend’s NHL draft in Las Vegas. G-M Julien BriseBois and agent Don Meehan independently confirmed their stances have not changed with respect to Stamkos signing a new contract with the club before free agency opens on Canada Day.

(Canadian Press/CEBL)