Stamps’ ground game punishes Ticats to snap four-game slump
It wasn’t just Dedrick Mills — who reclaimed his spot as the CFL’s leading rusher — doing the damage on WestJet Thanksgiving Weekend. The Calgary Stampeders piled up 211 rushing yards — their most in any game this season — and three touchdowns on the ground to end a four-game losing streak with a 37-20 win over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats at Hamilton Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
Mills, now up to 1,225 rushing yards on the season, tallied 105 yards and two touchdowns. Ludovick Choquette added 73 and a score on six attempts, and Vernon Adams Jr. pitched in 29 on the ground to go with his 16/23, 257-yard passing day.
Bo Levi Mitchell threw for two touchdowns and two interceptions, finishing 25-for-39 with 306 yards, surpassing 5,000 on the year and climbing past Matt Dunigan (43,857) to eighth place on the CFL’s all-time passing leader list. Kenny Lawler was busy, reeling in eight of 13 targets for 113 yards and a score, while Tim White pulled down eight of the 14 thrown his way for 104 yards as Hamilton fell to 10-7.
Hamilton could have clinched the East Division title with a win. Instead, they’ll wait on Monday’s result between the Montreal Alouettes and Ottawa REDBLACKS, with the Davis Alexander-led outfit back in play for the top spot in the division.
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» Calgary, Hamilton by the numbers
» Depth Charts: CGY | HAM
» Game Notes: Stampeders at Tiger-Cats
Dave Dickenson took the ball off the toss, and Calgary’s offence rewarded him. Two scrambles from Adams Jr. set up René Paredes’ 42-yarder. The Stamps were back on the field in no time, as Adrian Greene snagged Mitchell’s first pass attempt of the game — Greene’s first pick since returning from a leg injury in Week 16. Paredes added another from 32 yards out to make it 6-0 Calgary.
The Ticats’ offence started to loosen up on their third possession. Completions to Shemar Bridges and White moved the chains, but the drive stalled when a wide-open White dropped a sure touchdown in the back of the end zone. Hamilton recovered three points with Marc Liegghio’s 29-yard field goal, and Calgary quickly answered with a 29-yarder of its own.
The Ticats dialled up the aggression in the second quarter. Mitchell hit Lawler on third-and-one to keep the drive alive, but Clarence Hicks would shut it down near the red zone, overwhelming his blocker with a punishing bull rush on his way to a strip sack — his 10th of the year. Mitchell recovered his own fumble, setting up Liegghio’s 40-yard field goal to trim the deficit to 9-6.
The Stamps kept pressing for the game’s first major. Adams Jr. connected with Clark Barnes and Dominique Rhymes before Dedrick Mills burst up the gut for 31 yards, but Hamilton’s defence held in the red zone to force a 13-yard chip shot from Paredes.
After the three-minute warning, Calgary’s defence forced its third two-and-out of the game to get Adams Jr. back on the field. The Stamps went back to the ground, where rookie Ludovick Choquette broke free for a 44-yard touchdown, trucking a defender en route to his first CFL touchdown. Adams Jr. hit Quincy Vaughn on the two-point conversion to make it 20-6 at half, with the Stamps piling on 159 rushing yards to Hamilton’s 97 total yards.
Another Hamilton two-and-out opened the second half, and Calgary went back to the well with the run game. The Ticats finally put their foot down when Philip Ossai dragged down Mills for a loss on second down.
After a pair of productive runs from Greg Bell opened up the Stamps’ defence, Mitchell found his rhythm. He hit Lawler for 13 yards to cross midfield, then White for 18 over the middle before capping the drive with a 10-yard strike to Lawler in the corner of the end zone. Liegghio’s extra point cut the deficit to 20-13.
Adams Jr. and the Stamps’ offence rushed for a response. The Calgary pivot zipped a 41-yard dime to Jalen Philpot to get into the red zone, where Mills muscled in from two yards out to restore the two-score lead.
Late in the third, Mitchell improvised in the pocket and connected with Lawler for 41 yards to reach the red zone. But three straight runs from Bell came up short, and Hamilton turned it over on downs at Calgary’s six-yard line as the Ticats’ faithful began to voice their frustrations.
Hamilton found life in the fourth. With a short field, Mitchell started the drive with an 18-yard pass to White, then hit Jevoni Robinson on a 31-yard seam pass on the very next play for the touchdown. Liegghio’s convert cut Calgary’s lead to 27-20.
With momentum up for grabs, the teams exchanged two-and-outs before Erik Brooks’ 25-yard catch-and-run set up Paredes for a 37-yarder, giving the Stamps a larger cushion at 30-20.
With time winding down, the Ticats pushed for a comeback, but Jaydon Grant made an athletic play to break up a third-down pass to Lawler, halting the drive.
The Stamps weren’t content with a 10-point lead after the three-minute warning, as Adams Jr. unfurled a bomb to Brooks for 69 yards. DaShaun Amos made the touchdown-saving tackle at the four, but Mills powered it in on the next play.
In the late stages, Mitchell threw another interception, this time to Derrick Moncrief, sealing the game for Calgary.
Next up for the Stamps is a date with the Toronto Argonauts on Friday, October 17. The Ticats get to reset with a Week 20 bye before taking on the Ottawa REDBLACKS on Friday, October 24.
