Canadian Football League Round Up – Week 12 Action

Full scores, standings, and recaps from across Canada

Calgary

The league-leading Calgary Stampeders stormed back from a 19 point halftime deficit, scoring 30 second-half points, to beat the Toronto Argonauts 40-33 at home at McMahon Stadium in Calgary.

The Stampeders offensive charge was led by CFL 2013 MVP Jon Cornish. Cornish had a field day, racking up 174 yards on 11 carries, while hauling in an additional four passes for 35 yards and two total touchdowns.

Toronto took a 29-10 at the break and extended it to 32-10 early in the third, before Calgary quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell went to work. He carried the ball for a gain of 11 yards to start the next series, and then handed off to Cornish who took off on a massive 79-yard touchdown romp. Combined with the two-point conversion by Matt Walter, the Stamps trailed the Argos 32-18.

Mitchell engineered another touchdown drive capping it with a 14 yard touchdown strike to receiver Brad Sinopoli bringing the Stamps to within seven of Toronto’s lead.

Then, with just under two minutes to go in the game and Toronto clinging to a 33-30 lead, Cornish capped off the comeback with his second touchdown of the game, crossing the plane at the tail end of a 25 yard touchdown pass from Drew Tate, who had replaced an injured Mitchell,  to give the Stamps a 40-33 lead that they would not relinquish.

Edmonton

In Edmonton, the Eskimos outscored the Montreal Alouettes 27-10 in the second half to beat the Alouettes 33-16, in front of a delighted home crowd at Commonwealth Stadium.

After a defensive struggle through three quarters, Edmonton quarterback Mike Reilly got the best of Montreal quarterback Jonathan Crompton and the Als’ offense in a fourth-quarter shootout that led the Eskimos to 21 unanswered points.

Reilly tied a season-high in passing yards with 271 yards on 22-32 passing, while adding two rushing touchdowns to move to 7-1 as a starter this season. Running back Adarius Bowman meanwhile had his third straight game over 100 yards, catching 10 passes for 131 yards, in a game that was much closer than the score indicates.

Duron Carter (son of NFL legend Chris Carter) caught a 54-yard touchdown pass for the Alouettes, and he led the team with 64 yards on three catches. Crompton meanwhile took what Edmonton’s elite defense gave him, completing 15 of 27 passes for 169 yards and a touchdown.

The win for Edmonton snapped a two-game losing streak after the Esks were swept in a Labour Day home-and-home against Calgary, while Montreal’s two-game winning streak came to an end.

B.C.

Quarterback Kevin Glenn completed 20 of 27 passes for 261 yards and two touchdowns, while Emmanuel Arceneaux hauled in three passes for 79 yards and TD, as the BC Lions upended the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 26-9 at home Saturday night.

The loss was especially tough for the Bombers, as they lost their starting quarterback for some time.

Drew Willy was knocked out of the game in the first half with what the Bombers are calling an ‘upper body injury’. Brian Brohm came in for relief and finished the outing good on six of his 12 passes for 33 yards.

Glenn, who sat fifth in passing yards heading into Saturday night’s game, was on point early on, completing nine of his first 10 passes for 123 yards.

However, with less than a minute to go in the half and B.C. leading 8-3 on two field goals and a safety, the Lions finally broke through offensively, as Glenn marched the team 71 yards downfield on seven plays, the last being a four-yard touchdown toss to Andrew Harris for a touchdown.

The score ended a streak of eight-straight quarters without scoring an offensive touchdown for the Lions.

B.C. would take a 16-6 lead into the fourth.

However, the Bombers chipped away at BC’s lead, as kicker Lirim Hajrullahu split the uprights from 49 yards out, bringing Winnipeg to within seven.

However, that would be as close they would get as B.C. scored a field goal and another touchdown to seal the win.

Hamilton

Hamilton Tiger-Cat quarterback Zach Collaros was solid, completing 29 of his 36 passes for 287 yards and two touchdowns, while newcomer Terrell Sinkfield returned a punt 57 yards to the house, as the Tiger-Cats downed the visiting Saskatchewan Roughriders 28-3 on Sunday afternoon.

The loss was Saskatchewan’s first since a Week 3 26-13 defeat to the BC Lions.

The Ticats were also pushed offensively by receiver Andy Fantuz, who reeled in 11 catches for 108 yards, as well as tailback Mossis Madu, who registered 91 total yards on 12 touches.

Heading into Sunday’s game, the Roughriders topped the league in rushing, but the Ticats held them to just 100 yards even on this day and zero touchdowns.

Standings

With this, after Week 12 Calgary leads the West with a 10-1 record followed by Saskatchewan at 8-3, Edmonton also at 8-3 and the B.C. Lions who are 7-4. Winnipeg is last in the West at 6-6.

In the East, Hamilton eased into first with their victory at 3-7 with Toronto second (3-8) and Montreal third also at 3-8. The Ottawa Red Blacks in their first season are 1-9.