STAMPEDERS ROUT ARGOS AT HOME

The Calgary Stampeders may have broken out of their early season slump.  This past weekend their defense dominated by shutting down the Toronto Argonauts offense while scoring three touchdown as Calgary rolled to their first victory of the young CFL season by a lopsided 44-9 margin.   The Stamps improved their record to 1-2, while the Argos dropped to the same mark.

Calgary held a narrow 13-9 lead at halftime but really poured it on after the break.  The Stamps offense began to come alive when Joffrey Reynolds ran in a touchdown early in the third quarter for a 20-9 lead, and then the defense took over returning two interceptions and a fumble for touchdowns.  Reynolds gave the bulk of the credit for the win to the defense in his post game comments:

"The defence was able to hold them the whole game and we got a couple touchdowns early and it was kind of a snowball effect after that. They really picked it up. Any time you can get 21 points off of turnovers, any coach or anyone will tell you that will win you the game."

Dwaine Carpenter returned a fumble 55 yards for a TD near the end of the third quarter to make it 27-9.  After the game, he recalled the play:

"It kind of surprised me that it rolled around for a bit, I was OK, 'let me pick it up and run for the hills."'

Calgary coach  John Huffnagel was short and sweet in his account of the victory:

"The defence came out and took the ball away from them and scored three touchdowns. It was a great effort.”
Argos coach Bart Andrus was understandably upset with his team’s effort:

"What you saw was poor execution all the way around. We need to correct things in a lot of areas. Calgary deserves credit. They showed why they are defending Grey Cup champions."

Calgary easily covered as -7’ home favorites, with the combined 53 points scored just managing to stay UNDER the posted total of 56. It was the Stampeders’ first ATS victory of the season, as well as their first UNDER contest.  Toronto lost their second straight game straight up and against the spread, and has played two OVER and one UNDER in their three games to date.

The Stampeders will travel to Vancouver on Friday night to take on the BC Lions.  Calgary has been installed as a -3 road favorite with the total set at 58.  Toronto will also hit the road for a Friday game against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.  The Bombers are a -4 home favorite, with the total set at 51.