Late in the game, the Stamps down 14 points, and Lemar Durant came up clutch.

After switching positions due to an injury to DaVaris Daniels, Durant created separation from his defender and hauled in a 24-yard touchdown pass to get his team within one score.

“DaVaris ended up going down, so they put me in a different position,” said Durant. “Luckily, they called that play call where it was kind of a shot play. I ended up making a pretty good move on the defender and I got open, where Bo [Levi Mitchell] put it on target.”

The third-year receiver finished the contest with three catches for 38 yards and the aforementioned TD.

That major score helped the young Canadian match his entire 2016 regular-season total. In fact, should he continue at this moderate and very early pace, he will surpass his career highs in receptions (35) and yards (402).

“I think I played pretty well,” Durant said of his performance. “There was some mistakes and things that I can do better. But overall, with switching positions and some players going down, I think we handled it pretty well as a receiving group.”

Photo by Scott Grant

Part of the problem for the receiving corps was being short on bodies. By the time overtime rolled around, the team was relying on veteran fullback Rob Cote to play receiver.

The Stampeders won’t have much time to make the necessary corrections as the RedBlacks come to town on Thursday.

“Just cut down on the little mistakes and finish drives. There were a lot of times that we were playing really well and you could see that we were getting the ball rolling but then we’d make a little mistake that would halt the drive and we’d have to punt back to them. If we can clean up the little mental errors, we will be able to finish the game well.”

With a number of injuries to the Stamps receiving corps in Week 1, the 6-foot-2 wideout will be asked to step up.

And after watching guys like Eric Rogers and DaVaris Daniels break out in the past two seasons, he knows that right now is his opportunity to make big things happen.

“I think so. That’s the plan going into every year, you plan on it being a big year every year. But this year, I’m planning to stay injury free. I’m comfortable with the playbook and I feel the coaches trust me, so I think this will be a big year for me.

“If I just go out and play the way that I know I can play, I think everything will work out.”