The groin may have been pulled. No matter. The kick wasn’t.

“I would’ve celebrated more, I guess,’’ sighed Rene Paredes, fashionably late into a buoyant Calgary Stampeders’ dressing room, grimacing ever so slightly. “But I didn’t want to pull my groin.

“A small strain. Nothing major.

“I knew I could kick field goals all game. I was just praying I wouldn’t pull (the groin).”

Feeling a twinge, a nagging sense of discomfort, after two kickoffs, Paredes was excused from those duties as a precautionary measure. To save him for precisely the sort of moment that awaited on the final snap of Saturday afternoon.

Fifty-two yards away. The longest game-winning field-goal attempt of his career.

A nine-game winning streak hanging precariously in the balance. The spirited fight-back of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers to snuff out.

“The game’s on the line,’’ he said, “I’ve gotta come out and play. Everybody in here is playing with injuries.

“So for me, there’s no excuse.

“If I’d been kicking off all game, I don’t I could’ve made it, though.”

Photo by David Moll

As Stampeders QB Bo Levi Mitchell trotted out onto the field at Calgary’s 29-yard-line, trailing for the first time all afternoon, armed with 15 seconds, an innate sense of the theatrical, a slew of big-play receivers and a field-goal kicker he trusted implicitly, special teams-coach Mark Kilam approached Parades on the sidelines to get a sense of the distance he felt was do-able.

Paredes told him 52 yards.

Well, 52 yards it turned out to be.

“Rene, man, he might miss one here or there,’’ praised Mitchell, still trying to wrap his head around a pulsating 36-34 victory over a stubborn band of Winnipeg Blue Bombers that pushes Calgary’s record to 11-1-1 and its lead atop the CFL standings to seven points, “depending on what the situation is but when the game’s on the line, there’s nobody better.

“I’ve never been around a guy that has as much ice as he has in his veins.

“Helluva kick.”

As the ball split the uprights, Stampeders players exulted, the sense of relief tangible. The Bombers, who’d pushed so hard and come back so far, looked disbelieving that their seven-game win streak had come to a screeching halt, as if they’d just missed out a fat Lotto 6/49 payout by one number.

Was the kick ever in doubt?

“Absolutely NO doubt in my mind,’’ replied punter Rob Maver emphatically. “Rene’s done that his whole career. That’s what he thrives on: Big moments.

“When we’re putting him out there for a chance to win the game, I feel great about it.”

Appearing a distant second best for so long, the second-half Winnipeg renaissance must’ve triggered a run on Arrid Extra Dry roll-on across the city. It seemed improbable, almost preposterous, but when Bombers quarterback Matt Nichols tossed five yards to receiver Julian Feoli-Gudino for the tying points and Justin Medlock nailed the convert, Winnipeg led inside the game’s final minute.

Worse, everything seemed to have gone so sour for the Stamps. Super slotback Marquay McDaniel was suffering from leg cramps. Tailback Jerome Messam, the CFL’s leading rusher, was off it the dressing room after cracking his noggin off the turf. The offence was stuck in a bog. Paredes had rattled one field-goal attempt off an upright. A Simon Charbonneau-Campeau fumble deep in Calgary own territory – Khalil Bass tugging the ball out of seated-on-the-turf teammate Shayon Green’s hands to score from 16 yards out – had brought the Bombers close.

In short, it all seemed to be unraveling like a ball of a string around a playful kitten.

So given the circumstances, the last-gasp mini-drive engineered by Mitchell can be considered something of a minor masterpiece.

Photo by Johany Jutras

Starting on his own 29-yard-line, those 15 seconds to work with and acres of real estate to travel, Mitchell found Kamar Jorden for 14 yards. Ten seconds left.

Twenty-two more yards on a hook-up to Lemar Durant, down to the Bomber 45.

Over to you, Mr. Paredes.

“We’re confident in what we do,’’ said Mitchell. “Nobody was hanging their head. We’re looking at the clock thinking we had two to three plays. We get the quick one to K.J., gets a couple yards but that catch by Lamar is big.

“We understand the situation. It’s hats off to Rene, obviously, but to Dave and the coaching staff, too, because we practice those situations.

“We understand what we have to do, the yard-line we’ve got to get to, when we’ve got to get down, get out of bounds, understand when we have time-outs and whatnot.”

In the aftermath of such a near thing, of watching a 24-point lead evaporate, Stampeder coach Dave Dickenson was focusing on the positives.

“It’s human nature to feel like ‘Well, let’s shorten the game. We got this,’ ’’ he reasoned. “It’s not right but that’s just what it is.

“I’ve been around a long time and it’s hard to play with that edge when you play with leads. And they played well. Let’s give them credit.

“It’s just a hard game. Every time you think you’ve got it figured out, something comes up and gets you.

“So you’ve just got to keep working and keep believin’.

“I got a lot of enjoyment out of that win. I really did. I felt we let it slip away and I had a bad feeling in my stomach … so for us to come back and get that win felt great.

“I’m hoping our players have the same feeling and we build on that.

“Did we play overly well? Who knows?

“But we played well enough to win and that’s good enough for me.”

Photo by Canadian Press/Larry MacDougal