No lead is safe in the CFL.
The Stampeders gave the visiting B.C. Lions a painful reminder of that fact Saturday night at McMahon Stadium.
Trailing by 21 at one point in the game, the Red & White gave the crowd of 25,130 a thriller on, fittingly enough, Fan Appreciation Night with a 36-32 win.
They outscored the Lions 23-10 in the fourth quarter to get their first win of the 2019 campaign.
They improved to 1-1, while B.C. dropped to 0-3.
Bo Levi Mitchell – who went 23-of-34 for 252 yards and two touchdowns – left the game in the fourth quarter, but Nick Arbuckle didn’t miss a beat coming off the bench.
With the Stamps trailing 32-21, he lead them on a 13-play, 80-yard drive which he finished off with a one-yard quarterback sneak for a major.
On the ensuing on-side kick, Michael Klukas was first to the ball, batting it out of the air and almost catching it. After it hit the ground, receiver Eric Rogers recovered with 1:20 left in the fourth quarter.
Rogers – who had three touchdown catches and a two-point convert for good measure – capped off the Wild West finish with a four-yard catch from Arbuckle, who ended up 9-for 9 for 93 yards.
“It’s what I’ve expected. I know what I can do,” said Arbuckle. “I do it every day, early morning, late at night, 365 days a year. It’s what I’ve been preparing for, to be on the field. I’m just waiting for an opportunity and the longer it was was, the better I was gonna be.”
It was a gutsy win, said head coach Dave Dickenson.
“It wasn’t pretty. Did we out-play ‘em? Probably not,” he said. “Time of possession was obscene in their favour. But football’s football. I believe that’s why we love the CFL – because the game’s not over and that clock goes slow in those last three minutes.”
No better judge of a quarterback than you’ll find, Dickenson – one of the best pivots in the history of the league – was suitably impressed with the play of Arbuckle.
“We have faith in Nick but obviously a very, very difficult spot for any quarterback to be in,” he said. “Looks confident though. It really wasn’t as much about the quarterback play as the execution. We were dropping balls on Bo. We weren’t tackling well on defence, couldn’t get them off the field.
“But it did provide a spark. And maybe defences let up a little when they see the back-up. I have no clue. But he looked good.”
Things appeared to start off off well for the Stamps in the tilt before they fell in a deep hole.
The Lions took the opening kick-off and were marching down the field when ball hawk Tre Roberson picked off a Mike Reilly pass meant for Duron Carter, and scampered 87 yards down the East sideline for a touchdown.
However, the Lions challenged, arguing for a roughing the passer call on Stamps d-lineman Ivan McLennan.
After review, the officials agreed.
The ensuing 15-yard penalty for the hit put B.C. deep in Calgary territory and White put six points on the board on the next play after a 15-yard catch-and-run to the endzone.
Reilly went for two, with Jevon Cottoy hauling in the pass to make the lead 8-0 for the Lions.
Late in the first quarter, Reilly avoided a sack by Cory Greenwood who burst through the middle of the line untouched, the Lions pivot able to sidestep the hit and launch a deep ball to Bryan Burnham in the endzone, who had Royce Metchie and Brandon Smith on him in coverage, denying him a catch.
The officials threw a flag for pass interference on Metchie.
Down to the one-yard line after the penalty, White punched it in on the next possession.
B.C. was up 15-0 after the opening 15.
Rob Maver picked up a point with a boot early in the second quarter.
But it was the Lions adding another major after that.
A nine-play, 52-yard drive was capped off by 22-yard pass from Reilly to former Stamp Lemar Durant, who fell near the goalline but managed to crawl a quick four yards to break the plane.
A missed convert made it 21-1, with the Lions later adding a single of their own to increase it to 22-1.
With the Stamps spending much of the first 30 minutes on defence, Mitchell led his side on a 10-play, 75-yard drive in the second quarter which was capped off with a three-yard TD strike to Rogers, who was able to make into the endzone with Lions DB T.J. Lee draped on his back.
Following that Stamps touchdown, the Lions had a chance to add another major but were stuffed on a third-down run attempt on the goal-line as time expired.
On the Stamps first possession of the second half, Mitchell was picked off on his pass by Aaron Grymes, who stepped in to grab a toss meant for Rogers, the Calgary receiver tackling him right after the INT.
B.C. didn’t get any points from the turnover.
Mitchell had the Stamps making their way down the field but after missing a second-down throw to Ambles, Rene Paredes booted a 42-yard field-goal to narrow the lead to nine points.
After another B.C. drive was stopped deep in Stamps territory, Sergio Castillo kicked a 21-yard field-goal.
On the next Calgary possession, Mitchell didn’t waste much time, hooking up with Rogers on a long 42-yard strike on the third play of the drive for a TD, the Notre Dame product hauling in the two-point convert following.
But with just over four minutes to play, Reilly called his own number and ran up the gut for a 10-yard major on the 12th play of long drive. Following the convert, the Lions extended their lead to 11.