By Stampeders.com Staff

The Calgary Stampeders suffered a devastating 45-31 defeat to the Edmonton Eskimos in Sunday’s Western Final from Commonwealth Stadium, thus ending their 2015 campaign.

Trailing from beginning to end, John Hufnagel’s head coaching career concluded in disappointing fashion, as the defending Grey Cup champions committed a trio of turnovers and rushed for less than 100 yards.

“I’m disappointed that we lost. That’s all,” Huffnagel remarked during his final media address as the Stampeders head coach. “We lost a very important football game.

“I’m not riding away into the sunset. I’ll be in the building and at the games. I’ll still be part of it. I made a decision that I thought was right for the organization and I have no qualms or regrets about it. I think it’s the right decision to make for the football team and the organization.”

An early two-and-out from the Stamps was followed by a short-lived Eskimos possession, as Jamar Wall batted down a Mike Reilly pass intended for Derel Walker. On the ensuing third-down, Skye Dawson fumbled the punt return, and Edmonton promptly pounced on the loose ball.

Four plays later, Reilly scored the game’s first touchdown on a one-yard quarterback sneak. Walker would score on the two-point convert attempt, giving the home side an eight-point lead midway through the opening quarter.

Calgary’s second drive of the afternoon concluded with a Rene Paredes field goal of 44 yards.

Joe West and Eric Rogers both had significant pickups over the middle when the Red and White offence returned to the field, and a Lemar Durant end-around set up the Stampeders at the Esks four-yard line. However, Calgary would be unsuccessful through the air on back-to-back plays, setting up a Paredes chip shot that narrowed the deficit to two as the opening 15 minutes came to an end.

“The first half we settled for a lot of field goals,” said Rogers, who hauled in three receptions for 117 yards. “We got into the red zone inside the five and couldn’t punch it in. We knew we needed to score touchdowns instead of field goals.”

Minutes later, a presumptive Sean Whyte three-point attempt turned into a fake field goal, with the Eskimos managing to move the chains along the ground. Yet the Stampeders defence would subsequently prevent Edmonton from entering the end zone, as Whyte was soon good was 32-yards out.

Paredes then responded with a 48-yard boot as the scoreboard read 11-9, but Whyte eventually follow suit from the 17-yard line.

“The whole game we believed,” Paredes said. “We knew it was going to be tough. The guys played their hearts out. They did whatever they can to come back. Unfortunately, a couple plays and who knows.”

In the final stages of the half, a deep lob from Bo Levi Mitchell to Simon Charbonneau-Campeau for 39 yards preceded a 22-yard snag from West just short the goal line. But once again, Calgary was forced to settle for a field goal, with a pair of unsuccessful bids for six points. Paredes’ field goal of 10 yards moved the Stamps within two points once again.

The Eskimos would add to their advantage with only seconds before the break by marching downfield and scoring a 15-yard touchdown courtesy of Adarius Bowman.

To begin the third, Kenny Stafford fought off a defender for a 30-yard pickup and was targeted once again on the following play, this time for a major score of 33 yards. Three more points would be tacked on by Edmonton when a five-play, 33-yard possession ended with a 31-yard kick from Whyte.

The Stamps then moved within 16 points with a three-point boot of 49 yards from Paredes.

As the third frame came to a close, a Jerome Messam fumble bounced up into the arms of Deon Lacy, who ran back the recovery for 47 yards and an apparent touchdown. After a lengthy review process, the whistle was determined to have blown immediately following the turnover as the ball was awarded to the Eskimos but the score did not stand.

The ruling turned out to be of little consequence though, as the fourth quarter begun with a 57-yard touchdown strike from Reilly to Walker.

With Dexter McCoil intercepting Mitchell just moments later, Calgary’s hopes of a dramatic comeback were all but dashed when Reilly ran in for a nine-yard touchdown and created a lopsided 45-15 lead.

“When we were unable to score touchdowns in the first half, that really was a big factor in the overall outcome of the game,” Huffnagel said. “We went into the locker room trailing, but we did play pretty good offensively in the first half. They played pretty good offensively in the first half, they had more points. Third quarter we come out and do nothing and they do some really good things. You never want penalties and turnovers, that makes it even harder, but if we had scored some touchdowns on those drives, it would have been a better football game.”

A deep heave to Rogers for 66 yards marked the Stampeders first touchdown with West scoring on the two-point try. A second major was scored with a West crossing route, and Bryant Moniz crossed the goal line soon thereafter for two more points.

Mitchell finished with 381 passing yards, while Rogers and West tallied 117 and 106 receiving yards respectively.

“I’m going to make sure I remember how this feels,” said Mitchell, who was 3-0 in playoff appearances prior to the 2015 Western Final. “First time for it to end like this. I’m going to make sure that I remember this and use it as fuel all off-season when I’m working. Just to make sure that I can come back and get this team past this game.”