Jake Maier had a stellar night as the Stamps beat the visiting Tiger-Cats 32-24 Friday night at McMahon Stadium, in the process becoming the first CFL team to 700 wins.
The Stamps scored on their first five possessions of the game, en route to opening the season 1-0 and spoiling Bo-Levi Mitchell’s return to Calgary.
Cam Echols and Clark Barnes had touchdowns in the win, while Rene Parades booted six field-goals.
STAT PACK
Jake Maier – 21-for-26, 252-yards, two touchdowns
Dedrick Mills – 13-carries, 87-yards
Clark Barnes – seven-receptions, 61-yards, one touchdown
Demerio Houston – six tackles, one interception
After forcing a two-and-out to start the game, the Stamps got right to work on offence as Maier found Echols for 26-yards inside Hamilton territory which led to a 42-yard Paredes field-goal to make the score 3-0 early.
After another forced punt by the Stamps defence, Calgary put together two first-downs and Paredes hit a deep field-goal from 52-yards out to make the score 6-0.
Hamilton finally got the ball moving late in the first quarter, largely thanks to the run game, and found the scoreboard early in the second with a field-goal of their own from 10-yards out to make the score 6-3 Calgary.
The Stampeders continued to move the ball well on their first drive of the second-quarter leading to their third-straight field-goal to make it 9-3.
The Tiger-Cats added a punt single with just over five-minutes to go in the half to make it 9-4.
Calgary got the ball inside the 10-yardline on a nice screen pass from Maier to Dedrick Mills. The drive was finished off with the first major of the night as Maier found Echols for his first CFL touchdown to make the score 16-4.
WHAT A GRAB 🙌
First CFL TD for Cam Echols ‼️#CFLKickoff: LIVE on TSN
📲: Stream on CFL+ pic.twitter.com/pnNmJJqm1T
— CFL (@CFL) June 8, 2024
Demerio Houston snatched up his first interception as a Stampeder on the Tiger-Cats first play from scrimmage following the touchdown which led to a 43-yard Paredes field-goal. The score was 19-4.
BO LEVI MITCHELL IS INTERCEPTED!
The @calstampeders take over with 2 minutes left in the first-half!#CFLKickoff pic.twitter.com/HR8WYWZ6R1
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) June 8, 2024
The Tiger-Cats would tack on a late field-goal to make the score 19-7 heading into the half.
The Stamps got a big play from Erik Brooks who returned a missed field-goal all the way the Hamilton 32-yardline before getting pushed out of bounds. That resulted in Paredes’ fifth field-goal of the night making the score 22-7.
ERIK BROOKS TAKIN’ IT 84 YARDS ‼️
Brooks takes advantage of a missed field goal and sets up good field position for @calstampeders.#CFLKickoff: LIVE on TSN
📲: Stream on CFL+ pic.twitter.com/l83vrxVwGM— CFL (@CFL) June 8, 2024
Hamilton put together a 10-play drive that resulted in their first touchdown of the game making it 22-14 early in the fourth quarter.
Maier found Clark Barnes wide-open in the endzone to make the score 29-14 with just over three-minutes gone in the final quarter to put the score at 29-14.
WIDE OPEN FOR THE TOUCHDOWN ‼️
Clark Barnes hauls it in as the @calstampeders extend their lead in the fourth quarter.#CFLKickoff: LIVE on TSN
📲: Stream on CFL+ pic.twitter.com/YXxzJZEKCz— CFL (@CFL) June 8, 2024
The Tiger-Cats answered with a field-goal to make the score 29-17 with 9:08 remaining.
Paredes stroked his sixth field-goal of the night to extend the Stampeders lead to 32-17 with 2:18 left in the game.
Hamilton would not go away however as they scored a touchdown with 1:11 to go to round out the scoring.
Calgary recovered an onside-kick attempt by Hamilton and would put the game away.
UP NEXT
The Stampeders are in BC next Saturday to take on the Lions.