Tiger-Cats find a way to lose, as Stamps escape with 23-20 win on last-second FG

Friday night's CFL game in Hamilton had a whole variety of unexpected occurences, many thanks to the fierce wind, but the final moments that led to the visiting Stampeders pulling out a 23-20 win over the hometown Tiger-Cats were bizarre even by the standards of this contest. Calgary had the wind in the fourth quarter, and managed a late drive in the final two minutes from their own 43. That led to the Stampeders tying the game at 20 with just 53 seconds left on a 46-yard Rene Paredes field goal, but things got really weird after that.

The Ticats played conservatively on their next series, with quarterback Jeff Mathews rushing for five yards on first down, but some apparent on-field miscommunications and their inability to call a timeout led to a time-count violation, which also carries a loss of down inside the final three minutes of a half. That led to third down, and usually-reliable punter Justin Medlock shanked one into the wind that travelled just about 10 yards, had a slight return and had a no-yards call tacked on, creating just a net punt of two yards. That put Calgary in position to win in regulation on even just a rouge, but after a Jon Cornish run made the Stampeders' field position even better, Paredes nailed a 37-yard field goal for a three-point victory.

While the Ticats' final-minute blunders were the most remarkable, the laundry list of Hamilton mistakes stretched beyond just that time frame, though. Shortly before that on the game-tying drive, a Courtney Stephen interception that could have put the Ticats in position to win was nullified by an illegal contact penalty on Emanuel Davis. The end of the second quarter also saw some Ticat tomfoolery, as Mathews threw a pick, but Simoni Lawrence forced a fumble and Stephen recovered, but then Michael Ford fumbled the ball back to Calgary, and Brandon Banks later fumbled on a punt return to set up a easy Stampeders touchdown. All the turnovers proved to be a massive problem for Hamilton.

Mathews, a rookie quarterback out of Cornell who was making his first CFL start (thanks to last week's season-ending injury to Zach Collaros), also had other struggles on the day. He completed just four of nine first-half passes for 36 yards with an interception and fumbling early in the second half inside his own 20. His final statline of 15 completions on 23 attempts (65.2 per cent) for 155 yards with an interception isn't too bad for a raw rookie playing in a ridiculous wind, but it's far from great, and the Tiger-Cats are likely to need more passing production to succeed. That's especially true if they keep making this many mistakes.

Of course, the Stampeders should get some credit for this win too. They were playing in a tough road environment (besides the wind, Hamilton had only ever lost two games at Tim Hortons Field before this), and they largely performed pretty well. Mitchell finished with a solid 25 completions on 40 attempts (62.5 per cent) for 230 yards with a touchdown and no interceptions (thanks to that one nullified by a flag), not bad in the wind, and Jon Cornish ran for 90 yards on 14 carries (6.4 yards per carry) and added seven catches for a team-high 64 receiving yards. Calgary performed well under pressure, especially in the final moments, and they didn't fall into the late mistakes that Hamilton did. Still, this felt more like a game that the Tiger-Cats lost, not one that the Stampeders won. The once-beasts-of-the-East looked vulnerable, and that wasn't just about the switch from Collaros to Mathews; it was also about all the undisciplined penalties and mistakes that played a vital role in this loss.