The Saskatchewan Roughriders reported a profit for 2009 of $3.1 Million according to the following report by CBC:

The Saskatchewan Roughriders announced Saturday that the CFL club made a record profit of $3.1 million in 2009.

While the announcement did not specify an exact figure for gross revenues in the season, the club said they exceeded $30 million.

Courtesy Winnipeg Free Press:

WINNIPEG Blue Bombers quarterback Michael Bishop and Argos defensive tackle Adriano Belli had a number of confrontations after the play during Saturday’s game.”He said he was going to punch me but I didn’t believe him,” said Bishop, who went facemask-to-facemask with the much larger Belli and later aimed a punch at the Toronto player’s groin. “He likes to come up and touch your butt after a play. Once is fine. But after, three or four or five, that’s enough. I had to say something. It could be worse. He’s done a lot worse than the butt touch. Belli likes to try and get in your head.”

Bombers coach Mike Kelly said that he’d be talking to the league office about some of Toronto’s antics.

“They’ve got a handful of players that need to be addressed but that’s not for me to worry about,” said Kelly. “I worry about the safety of my players and the purity of this league and this game. There are some things that some of their players do that is unacceptable in any realm of sport. I’m sure we’ll talk to the league. We’ll have discussions.”

Playoffs possible

THE Bombers moved to 4-8 with Saturday night’s 29-24 win over the Toronto Argonauts and veteran tackle Doug Brown said the win was critical if the Bombers hope to make a run to the post-season.

“This was make it or break it. This is the beginning of a long stretch of games that will determine how long our season is,” said Brown.

Amey explosive

RECEIVER Otis Amey spent five weeks on the practice roster with the Blue Bombers before getting into his first action on Saturday night and exploding for 118 yards on six catches.

“I had to be patient and wait until I got my turn. There has been a lot of transition here with people moving in and out,” said Amey. “Luckily, they threw me the ball early and I was able to make a catch and get the quarterback to come back to me.”

Work rewarded

RECEIVER Adarius Bowman had five catches for 88 yards and one touchdown on Saturday night and he credited the week of practise for his team’s success.

“We got together this week and worked hard and were on the same page,” said Bowman. “Guys stayed late after practice to watch film and to try to get ready for this game. There were new guys here that had to learn the offence and they did. We stumbled early in the game and we got better as things went on.”

Bowman believes there may be good things ahead for the Bombers.

“I can’t bite my tongue. I think this is the start of a turnaround for us,” said the former Saskatchewan Roughriders wideout. “The chemistry in here between the offence and the defence, it got better this week. We’re enjoying this feeling. We’re loving this right now and we’re going to go in and start getting ready for next week.”

Defence gets a break

BOMBERS linebacker Ike Charlton said the offence provided his unit with what it needed.

“The offence went down the field and put points on the board. We feel that when that happens we can win games. The offence kept us out of our side of the field and we were able to do what we do and close this game out. It was fun. To get rest and enjoy the course of the game and play like a full unit. We made plays and we feed off that. It’s huge for us.”

Read more….

Courtesy Edmonton Journal:

Edmonton Eskimos fans didn’t need those brooms, after all.

The Saskatchewan Roughriders battled back from a 20-15 deficit early in the fourth quarter to score a 23-20 CFL victory over the Eskimos, nullifying what would have been Edmonton’s second season sweep of the Riders in the last four years.z

The loss came in front of a regular-season record attendance of 62,517 on a cool, blustery Saturday afternoon at Commonwealth Stadium. The crowd count broke the Eskimos’ old mark of 62,444, set back in 2003 against the Calgary Stampeders. Edmonton’s playoff record is 62,531, established at the 2002 Grey Cup.

It also blew yet another chance for the Eskimos to stay atop the West Division standings. Edmonton falls to 6-6, while Saskatchewan jumps back into a tie for first place with Calgary at 7-5.

The bottom line is the Eskimos just can’t stand prosperity.

“I bring up that word a lot,” said Eskimos head coach Richie Hall. “I think we’re a great team dealing with adversity, but we’re an average team –at best–dealing with prosperity, as far as trying to better ourselves.

“This was another opportunity we let slip through. At some point in time, for us to get where we want to be, we have to embrace prosperity. That means taking it and making it ours.”

With just three first downs in the opening half and 10 overall, it was the Eskimos offence that let the crowd down.

“We were sloppy offensively and on special teams. I thought we were good defensively,” said Kamau Peterson, who finished with two catches for 70 yards and surpassed 3,000 yards in receptions as an Eskimo.

“Maybe we just like to make it interesting. I don’t know,” he added. “There’s a lot of football left. It’s a shame we haven’t seized those types of moments, or we haven’t yet. It’s getting to that point in the year where those are kind of important and will dictate what the rest of your season will look like.”

Peterson and running back Arkee Whitlock provided most of the Eskimos offence, which was non-existent for the most part.

Whitlock gave the Esks a five-point advantage on a 55-yard touchdown scamper 1:05 into the final quarter before Saskatchewan backup quarterback Steven Jyles replied with a one-yard keeper 4:22 later.

Riders starting QB Darian Durant capped the scoring, connecting with Andy Fantuz for a two-point conversion to make it 23-20.

Weather conditions played a huge role as both teams struggled with or without the 50-km/h wind.

“We had trouble substituting our packages during the game. We threw a couple of interceptions in the first half, but we still had the lead,” said Riders head coach Ken Miller. “Then it was 30 minutes of hard football in the second half. We were determined we were going to play with an attitude and got the job done.”

Edmonton managed just three first downs and 122 yards of net offence in the first 30 minutes, but opened the scoring as linebacker T. J. Hill picked off a Durant pass and rambled 59 yards for a touchdown 8:16 into the opening quarter as the Esks offence battled a stiff headwind.

Hill finished with two interceptions and Bradley Robinson added one as the Esks increased their totals to 10 picks in the last five games after playing the first seven games without one.

Hill also had a pair of sacks as he stood out on defence. Edmonton finished with five sacks in the game.

The Riders used a bobbled punt return by Robinson to score its only major of the first half as Rey Williams jumped on the loose ball in the Esks end zone in the second quarter.

A 26-yard field goal by Luca Congi and a safety provided the Riders’other points. The Saskatchewan major came after a pair of Eskimos sacks and too many men and time count penalties pushed the Riders out of field-goal position.

Noel Prefontaine was good on a 22-yard field goal in the first half and added a 42-yarder early in the second half to make it 13-12 Edmonton. Congi came right back at 11:42 of the third with a 36-yard effort for a 15-13 Saskatchewan lead.

Strangely enough, both Edmonton majors came against the wind. But the loss eventually took the gale out of the Eskimos’ sails.

The Eskimos are back in action on Friday in Winnipeg.

“We’re not that far away. We’ve got the Kool-Aid, we just don’t have any sugar yet,” said Eskimos defensive end Kai Ellis.

POINTS AFTER: The Esks lost a pair of defensive backs to injuries as Lenny Williams (left knee) left the game late in the first quarter and Kelly Malveaux hurt his left hamstring in the second quarter. Defensive end Dario Romero may also have suffered an injury to his biceps.

Read more….

Courtesy Montreal Gazette:

The Alouettes have finally found the elixir for success – play on a short week and practice only once.

Only five days after defeating Winnipeg, the Als rolled into Ivor Wynne Stadium and dismantled the Tiger-Cats, 42-8, before 22,083 dispirited fans. The locals were so despondent over their team, they cheered Nick Setta’s 59-yard single early in the third quarter – the home team’s first point.

The Ticats are the only serious threat to the Als finishing first in the East Division. Or, at least they were. A Hamilton victory would have pulled it to within two games of Montreal. Instead, the Als now can virtually begin concentrating on the division final.

With a 10-2 record, the Als are eight points ahead of the 6-6 Ticats with six games remaining. Montreal can probably put the juggernaut on cruise control for the remainder of the schedule; its only meaningful upcoming game is on Thanksgiving, at home, against the defending Grey Cup champion Calgary Stampeders.

Any thoughts of the Ticats giving the Als a game were quickly erased. Montreal led 15-0 at the end of the first quarter and 21-0 at halftime, at which point Hamilton starting quarterback Quinton Porter was replaced by veteran Kevin Glenn.

Through 30 minutes, the Als had an incredible 21-2 advantage in first downs and had controlled the ball for more than 22 minutes. In the second quarter, when the Als had to contend with a 22-kilometre-an-hour wind, they controlled the ball for 11:14.

Montreal’s offence, which arguably had been struggling, erupted for five touchdowns, beating the Ticats at every facet of the game. Whether it was through the air or along the ground, everything worked to perfection for the Als, who replaced starting quarterback Anthony Calvillo with Adrian McPherson with more than six minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.

Following a Damon Duval single off a wide 32-yard field goal attempt, Calvillo passed 12 yards to Jamel Richardson at 12:40 of the first quarter. And then, after a Ramon Guzman interception, McPherson ran one yard for a score before the quarter ended.

A fumble recovery by Martin Bédard resulted in a five-yard touchdown pass from Calvillo to Kerry Watkins at 5:49 of the third quarter. Avon Cobourne scored twice in the fourth quarter, including a 42-yard run at 1:45. He added a three-yard scoring run at 6:32.

Duval connected on a pair of field goals, from 10 and 25 yards.

With a pair of catches just before halftime, veteran slotback Ben Cahoon passed Don Narcisse into third place in career receptions.

Defensively, the Als created four turnovers and sacked Hamilton quarterbacks five times in another thorough and dominating performance. The Ticats’ only touchdown came late in the third quarter, on a five-yard pass from Glenn to Marquay McDaniel.

Montreal has a full week to prepare for the Argonauts before venturing into Toronto for a game next Saturday afternoon. What the additional time will mean remains to be seen.

Read more….

Courtesy Hamilton Spectator:

For those inclined to debate the Tiger-Cats’ place in the CFL pecking order, last night’s performance proved one thing conclusively.

They’re well behind the Montreal Alouettes. Well, well behind.

The first-place visitors made the home side look like the woeful Cats of old in a lopsided 42-8 win at Ivor Wynne Stadium that was over at roughly the time the anthem finished.

For a full description of the Ticats’ performance, open your thesaurus to the word “bad” and read the entries. On the heels of an optimism-building, top-notch outing against the defending Grey Cup champion Calgary Stampeders last week, any synonym you pick would be fair. Montreal was massively better on offence, colossally better on defence and exponentially better on special teams. And the difference on both lines of scrimmage was … well, they haven’t invented the word yet.

“We didn’t do our job tonight,” said head coach Marcel Bellefeuille. “There’s no excuses. There’s no sugar-coating that.”

As much as anything, though, this game exposed the massive chasm that exists between the two teams at starting quarterback.

While Bellefeuille insisted the loss wasn’t Quinton Porter’s fault — he’s right because this was a team-wide mess — there’s no getting around the fact that Montreal’s Anthony Calvillo was brilliant in front of 22,083 fans, finding every open man and making Hamilton’s usually stellar defence look sickly and confused.

This wasn’t entirely unpredictable. The Cats have been a stat-builder for Calvillo, who came into last night’s contest averaging nearly 380 passing yards against Hamilton in his last four starts stretching back to the beginning of last season. He did nothing yesterday to suggest those numbers were a fluke.

Montreal opened the scoring on a single when Damon Duval missed a 32-yard field goal after an opening seven-play drive stalled. But on their next possession, the Als again made the Ticat defence look squishy, marching 47 yards on six plays and punching the ball into the end zone on a touchdown toss to Jamel Richardson. After a horrible Porter interception, they scored another major on a five-play drive to make it 15-0 before the first quarter was done. By halftime, it was 21-0 with Calvillo already sitting on 216 yards passing. More impressive was the fact that against the wind in the second quarter, he kept his offence on the field for 11:14.

He finished 25-of-36 for 286 yards.

“That’s Calvillo,” said linebacker Otis Floyd. “He’s a great quarterback.”

Porter was anemic by comparison and could get nothing going for his offence. He threw that brutal interception in the first quarter; had a couple fumbles — including another inexplicable one on a snap like he had the week before; looked indecisive, leading to several sacks; and wasn’t accurate when he did unload.

By the second half, Porter and his 4-for-6 for 28 yards were on the sideline in favour of Kevin Glenn. Then later, Adam Tafralis.

The Cats showed some sporadic signs of life in Porter’s absence. Glenn threw a five-yard TD pass to Marquay McDaniel late in the third, but it was way too late to have any significant impact. When Avon Cobourne broke free for a 42-yard touchdown run just minutes later — he finished with a ridiculous 197 rushing yards — the game was done.

The Ticats have one more chance Oct. 18 in Montreal to make the case that the gap isn’t as wide as it looked last night and that this was merely a growing pain in their development. But the more immediate issue is getting back on track before next week’s trip to Calgary for a rematch with a Stampeder team that’ll be looking for revenge.

Read more….

Courtesy Toronto Star:

As badly as things have gone for the Toronto Argonauts this season, they can take some solace in the knowledge that at least they aren’t the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

While the Argos have had their troubles on the field, there’s been little whiff of soap opera off it except for the Arland Bruce III affair. Life with the Bombers, meanwhile, has been a mixture of soap opera, science fiction and vaudeville show.

“This is my 13th year of football and if you took all the incidents out and put them all together, then maybe we’re on par with the pandemonium that’s transpired here this year,” veteran Bomber defensive tackle Doug Brown said yesterday. “It’s been unique, let’s put it that way.”

And yet with all the sideshows surrounding everything from the embarrassing Pacman Jones flirtation to the almost-as-embarrassing Barrin Simpson affair to a flurry of trades made this week, the Bombers believe they can win tonight’s battle to avoid last place in the Canadian Football League’s East Division.

“Everybody’s finally bought into what we’re trying to do,” said quarterback Michael Bishop. “This was the best week of practice we’ve had.”

There’s precedent, too. The last time the two met, the Bombers managed to win in spite of the fact that Bishop had the benefit of only two practices with his new mates.

On paper, the Argos are easily the better of the two 3-8 teams. At least they’ve been competitive in most of their games and could just as easily have six or seven victories if they could hold late leads.

The Bombers have lost three in a row and were outscored 117-38 in those games. But that doesn’t mean much, especially when the season is basically on the line. Desperation can produce strange results.

“I was just thinking, one of these teams is going to be 3 and 9. Wow,” said Brown. “To be buried so deep that it’s almost a write-off for the year, it just better not be us.”

Unlike Brown, Argo head coach Bart Andrus doesn’t want to talk about this being a must game, even though they all are now.

“We focus on what we can control,” he said.

His players aren’t as reluctant to admit that playoff hopes would take a severe hit if the Argos were to lose tonight.

“It’s a must-win game, no doubt about it,” said Argo linebacker Kevin Eiben.

One thing in the Argos’ favour is the fact that Winnipeg’s spotty offence revolves around the running of Fred Reid and the Argo defence is tough to run against.

Another is that Andrus believes the Argos are getting better, despite having won only one of their last seven games.

“Sometimes to the naked eye, you don’t see a team improving,” he said. “To us, we do see ourselves improving in a lot of areas.”

Read more…

Courtesy BCLionsDen.ca:

This past March, one of the CFL’s biggest and most knowledgeable fans, Ritch Dowrey was the victim of a senseless and brutal assault that left him with severe brain injuries. The road to recovery will be a long one, as Ritch has to relearn to do life’s most routine things. Fighting his way through the coma he was left in by his attacker, Ritch is now in a group home in Langley where he needs constant care and he’s receiving daily rehab to try and get his speech and coordination back.

Anyone who knows Ritch or “3rd Down” as he’s known to his CFL friends will know that he loves his Lions, and he loves the CFL. Ritch could tell you stories of old Lions games, and recall great memories and stats from the past. He was never shy to be controversial on his opinions on the game, or the events surrounding it. For instance, when the BC Lions traded Ritch’s favourite player Damon Allen to the Toronto Argonauts, Ritch showed up at the tailgate with a BC Lions white jersey, that he unsuccessfully tried to dye blue. The point was made and his loyalty to “Gumby” never wavered.

Part of the rehab process for Ritch is to try and engage him in activities that used to interest him in the past, and the BC Lions certainly qualify. This day had been planned for about a month by his friends and family and the Lions organization. Ritch had plenty of interaction with players, and proudly sported his #1 Dowrey jersey that the club gave him when he was in the hospital. But sometimes things were truly meant to be. One of Ritch’s favourite Lions, Casey Printers, just happened to sign with the team the day before, and was attending his first practice on this day. Ritch was a staunch supporter of Casey through the years, and was always calling for the return of “Caseymania” to BC. Casey was the last one off the field, but took the time to sign Ritch’s jersey, talk to him a bit and pose for a picture with his biggest fan.

ritch_092209_practice_048 I’ve been visiting Ritch since he was in a coma. I’ve seen him make a lot of progress and I’ve often left him after a visit feeling sad. Not so today because it was inspiring to me to see his face light up when Geroy Simon came to say hello. To watch his eyes light up when his daughter Carolyn arrived, and the connection they had.

There is no doubt that Ritch is facing a third and long in life but he’s a fighter, and he’s come a long way. He seemed to enjoy and thrive at times today, and the next step will be to have him attend a game, hopefully this season.

Thanks should go out to Jill and Sheila from Connect Communities, Brittany Ramsay of the BC Lions and Ritch’s friend Lindsay Wincherauk for their help in making this day happen for Ritch, and to the players who came to spend some time with him after practice. I think it was a positive experience for him and I was happy to be able to experience it. I am sure I speak for all of Ritch’s CFL friends when I say to Carolyn, Curtis, Jean, Allan and the rest of Ritch’s family, that is there is anything we can do we’ll be there.

I took some photos and I’ve compiled them in the photo gallery below. Please feel free to leave comments for the family, or for Ritch himself and spread the word to his CFL friends.

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Courtesy Regina Leader Post:

Saskatchewan Roughriders veteran cornerback Omarr Morgan experienced the highest of highs and suffered the lowest of lows in Sunday’s CFL game against the Edmonton Eskimos.

Morgan was on top after returning a fumble for a CFL-record 108 yards for a third-quarter touchdown before 30,945 spectators at a sold-out Mosaic Stadium. Morgan was also burned for a 68-yard pass-and-run from Eskimos quarterback Ricky Ray to receiver Maurice Mann with 69 seconds remaining the fourth quarter that helped Edmonton pull out a thrilling 31-27 victory.

“I didn’t know that I set a CFL record but that was a highlight,” Morgan said after Sunday’s game. “It didn’t really matter because they made a play on me at the end. That was as high as you can get and as low you could possibly get.”

Those emotions were similar to the ones experienced by Riders head coach Ken Miller. He watched Morgan return an Arkee Whitlock fumble from Saskatchewan’s two-yard line that fuelled a comeback from a 21-10 first-half deficit. Morgan’s fumble return broke the CFL record of 104 yards set by Al Washington of the Ottawa Rough Riders on July 7, 1984.

Then Miller had to watch as Morgan, a veteran of 10 CFL campaigns with the Riders and Eskimos, bit on a pump fake by Ray and a double-fake by Mann.

“They were pretty well at opposite ends of the spectrum,” said Miller. “It didn’t look like we were going to be able to stop Edmonton in the first half. Then we had a fumble recovery that went 108 yards for a touchdown. That gave us some momentum on defence and got some things rolling on defence. To have that long touchdown was really deflating.”

That wasn’t the case in Edmonton’s locker room. Head coach Richie Hall, Ray and Mann were all celebrating a win that snapped a two-game losing streak for the Eskimos.

“This is monstrous for us as a team who is trying to find themselves amidst the playoff chase,” said Mann, who had seven receptions for 128 yards and a touchdown. “We’re doing big things right now and we just have to continue to keep working and keep the motor going.”

The playoff picture remains unclear in the West Division. The Eskimos, Riders and Calgary Stampeders are tied for first place in the West Division at 6-5. The B.C. Lions are fourth at 5-6.

The Riders and Eskimos are to complete the second half of their home-and-home series in Edmonton on Saturday.

Sunday’s victory was the second time this season that the Eskimos have pulled out an unlikely win at Mosaic Stadium. On July 25, Edmonton rallied from a 22-0 second-quarter deficit to beat the Riders 38-33.

“You never want to lose at home and to a Western opponent,” said Morgan. “We’re still up there in first place and we still have a chance to do special things. It definitely hurts because you don’t want to lose and you don’t want to lose to Edmonton.”

Ray had a great deal to do with the Eskimos recording their third win in their last 12 visits to Mosaic Stadium. Ray connected on 20 consecutive passes and did not throw his first incompletion until the third quarter.

“We were in good position the whole first half,” said Ray, who was 25 of 34 for 315 yards and two touchdowns. “We ran the ball great and we didn’t have to pick up lots of yardage. I was just trying to get the ball out quick.”

Ray also threw a touchdown pass to Fred Stamps. Whitlock rushed for two first-half touchdowns for Edmonton before having the ball stripped by Riders linebacker Jerrell Freeman. Morgan picked up the loose ball and raced untouched for the touchdown at 3:09 of the third quarter.

A missed 38-yard field goal by Edmonton placekicker Noel Prefontaine meant the Eskimos had to settle for 24-17 lead with less than five minutes remaining in the third quarter.

Early in the fourth quarter, Riders quarterback Darian Durant connected with slotback Chris Getzlaf on a 20-yard touchdown pass. Luca Congi’s convert tied the contest 24-24. Congi later provided the Riders with a 27-24 lead on 21-yard field goal. The 27-24 advantage stood until Ray found Mann wide open behind the Riders’ secondary.

“I tried to be a smart player and play the sticks,” said Morgan. “They took a big chance at the crucial part of the game. Usually teams don’t do that but it paid off for them. You have to take your hat off to Ricky Ray, Mann and the co-ordinator (Kevin Strasser) who called the play.”

Riders running back Wes Cates scored on a four-yard run early in the first quarter.

Read more….

Courtesy Calgary Herald:

On a beautiful late-summer night in Hamilton, the resurgent Tiger-Cats gave the Ivor Wynne faithful another reason for optimism.

And the ham-handed Calgary Stampeders? Well, they gave their fans cause for some very real concern.

While the Ticats were celebrating their gritty 24-17 Canadian Football League win before 19,448 fans, the Stamps were wondering how they’d suddenly forgotten how to catch footballs, how they’d taken a dramatic step backwards in team discipline, and pondering how, for the second time this season, they will replace one of their starting receivers.

While Ticats wideout Arland Bruce III was making the big catches — two of them for touchdowns in the fourth quarter as the Ticats came back from a four-point halftime deficit — Calgary receivers were doing quite the opposite, and they paid the price with their fifth loss in 11 games, snapping a three-game win streak.

“We dropped the ball,” summed up Stamps coach John Hufnagel afterwards. “Simple as that. I know (running back) Joffrey (Reynolds) had a good game (121 yards rushing), but you can’t drop passes for first downs and expect to do much. We didn’t play with a lot of skill. Full credit to Hamilton, they were around the ball and they caused us some problems, I’m sure, catching the ball, but we have to do a better job of playing skilled football.”

Adding to the woes for the Stampeders is the likelihood Canadian receiver Ryan Thelwell, who at the age of 36 was in the midst of a terrific season, is done for the year after a possible tear of his Achilles tendon in the fourth quarter. Early in the week he’d been struggling with the injury, which he suffered simply making a cut on a pattern. He’ll join Ken-Yon Rambo in sick bay for the rest of the season,

“I believe it’s very serious, probably his Achilles tendon,” confirmed Hufnagel. “It’s very tough. He’s a guy we depend on heavily, and now we have to go back to the drawing board.”

But the damage was done far earlier. There were plenty of fingers to be pointed all over the receiving corps — Brett Ralph dropped an easy ball in the end zone; running back Jon Cornish had a drop on a second-and-short play as the Stamps were driving in the fourth quarter; Thelwell, too, mishandled some balls — as Calgary failed to capitalize on two early touchdowns, courtesy of Hamilton turnovers.

The first came on Hamilton’s second offensive play. Defensive ends Charleston Hughes and Tearrius George, both of whom were making their Stampeder debuts, got through the Hamilton offensive line to put pressure on quarterback Quinton Porter, who simply lost the handle and George recovered at the Hamilton nine. Two plays later, Burris was able to scamper into the end zone from a yard out to open the scoring.

Later in the quarter, slippery running back DeAndra’ Cobb had the ball stripped from his grasp by Calgary linebacker Malik Jackson, and safety Milton Collins scooped up the football and sprinted 39 yards for his first CFL touchdown.

But Calgary never found the end-zone again, ruining a pretty solid night by the its defence, which forced Hamilton to attempt four first-half field goals (Nick Setta made three of them) and also picked off a pass in the end-zone.

“That’s not the way good offences operate, and if we want to be the kind of offence we know we can be, we can’t have nights like this,” said Calgary quarterback Henry Burris, who was 10-for-25 for 114 yards. “We have to show up every night. It’s definitely not acceptable. We characterize ourselves as the best offence in this league, and we didn’t show it tonight.”

Bruce scored twice in the fourth quarter, once on a 17-yard pass from Quinton Porter, who was solid in his first start after a knee injury, and the other on a 36-yard toss from third-stringer Adam Tafrailis, who was in for what looked to be a second-and-short sneak.

“We put ourselves in position to win the game and it didn’t happen,” said Calgary safety Wes Lysack, who had a nice game with a pick and a sack. “In all phases of the game, we took penalties that we shouldn’t have and did some dumb things. That’s not our M.O. We’ve established an identity of this team being a smart team, taking care of the football, taking care of each other and winning games. We clearly didn’t do that today. I hope it’s a wake-up call. It better be.”

Calgary’s discipline suffered all night, as the Stamps took an appalling 14 flags for 142 yards.

“You can’t be more frustrated, actually,” said slotback Jeremaine Copeland. “We gave this game away. Way too many drops. Way too many penalties. Way too many second-and-longs. You name it, we did it today. When it comes down to it, they made the plays that needed to be made and we didn’t.”

The Stamps are back at home Friday when they play the B.C. Lions in an 8 p.m. start at McMahon Stadium.

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Courtesy Vancovuer Province:

There were a lot of reasons for Wally Buono to be disappointed.

The sure touchdown Rolly Lumbala treated like an anvil dropped from a helicopter. The 25-yard field-goal try Sean Whyte shanked off the upright. A long bomb the usually sure-handed Geroy Simon somehow let slip through his fingertips.

And that was just in the first half.

There was also a missed interception in the third quarter. The offence’s failure to move the chains on a second and short with the game in the balance. And, of course, allowing the 56-yard pass play that set up the Montreal Alouettes’ winning score in their 28-24 victory over the B.C. Lions at Molson Stadium on Sunday.

But disappointment doesn’t even begin to describe the Lions general manager and head coach’s feelings as he went over game film in his office at the team’s training facility on Monday morning.

“I’m disgusted to be honest with you,” said Buono, leaning back in his leather chair, a pair of TV monitors on freeze-frame at either end of his wooden desk. “Why would I be disappointed? Disappointment is when you’re not good enough to beat anybody — that’s disappointment. You’re disgusted when you watch the tape and your reality comes forth.”

He’s disgusted because the Lions had opportunities to make plays and didn’t. At least, not enough of them to win.

He’s disgusted because at the most critical time of the game, his team blinked first.

He’s disgusted because instead of being 5-5 after Week 11 of the CFL season, his team finds itself 4-6, two games below .500.

“I wasn’t upset with the game — we went in to Montreal, where you’re up at 5:30 in the morning body time, and we fought back and made a game of it,” said Buono, who remains tied with Don Matthews for most career wins with 231. “What I was upset about is the thing that nobody believed we could do, we were right there to do. Go into Montreal and beat them back-to-back. It was there.”

But not so disgusted as to be planning to make any major changes in the lead up to Saturday’s game against the woeful Toronto Argonauts at BC Place.

Quarterback Jarious Jackson — who completed 16 passes for 228 yards with two TDs and an interception against the Als — will continue to take the majority of snaps this week no matter Buck Pierce’s condition.

Buono also acknowledged there could be as many as two new faces at practice when the team reconvenes on Wednesday.

“Yes, it’s been in the works for a few weeks,” he said, without revealing names. “We’re trying to improve ourselves a number of ways.”

On Wednesday, Buono may have enough time to catch up on some lost sleep and will perhaps see the bigger picture. That B.C. has gone toe-to-toe with the league’s elite for two straight weeks and managed no less than a draw on the judges’ scorecards.

“The end result is it was a wasted effort,” said Buono. “Whether it’s not converting in the first quarter, whether it’s not making an interception in the third quarter, whether, at the most critical time of the game we can’t make a play, whether with two minutes left in the game you have them at second and nine and you break coverage and give up 56 yards, that’s tough. … It was just a wasted effort.”

Disappointed never felt so good.

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