Calgary Stampeders run over Hamilton, snap losing streak (& eight other thoughts)

Photo courtesy: Kevin Sousa/CFL.ca

The Calgary Stampeders snapped a four-game losing streak in Hamilton, beating the brakes off the Tiger-Cats 37-20 in a game where they never trailed.

Here’s what I saw from my living room.

Adams on the move early

Stampeders quarterback Vernon Adams Jr. spoke this week about losing his confidence in the longest winless streak of his career. However, beginning with the first drive of the day, it felt as though Adams was determined to shake himself out of this prolonged slump.

Adams would scamper twice on the opening drive, which ended with a field goal. The decision to run showed a confidence he has been lacking since Labour Day.

He would only take off once more on the afternoon, but he was well protected in the pocket and didn’t feel the heat very often either. Adams finished the day with 29 yards on the ground.

Through the air, he was an efficient 16-of-23 for 257 yards. There were no touchdown throws, but more importantly, there were no interceptions, which have plagued the QB during this late-season slide.

Mills puts Stamps ahead with a century

Dedrick Mills is in a tight battle for the league rushing title, but he helped his case with a 105-yard day on 17 carries. He would also find the endzone twice in the second half — his first touchdowns since mid-August.

Mills now holds a 46-yard cushion atop the league rankings and is behind only Dustin Crum for rushing scores on the year with 11. He also leads the league in carries of 10 or more yards with 44, and leads all CFL backs in yards per carry average.

While I expect B.C.’s Nathan Rouke to come away with the nomination for Most Outstanding Player out of the West Division, Mills should rightly be the Stampeders nominee.

Choquette shines

When the Stampeders drafted Ludovick Choquette in the sixth round of the 2025 CFL Draft, they thought they got a steal. Impressed by his performance at the Combine, they were thrilled to have him available that late in the annual restocking of National cupboards.

As training camp wore on, that belief was born out, as the diminutive running back made the roster and has been in and out of the lineup throughout his rookie season.

When he has had the ball, Choquette has made the most of his opportunities. That includes a seven-carry, 73-yard performance on Saturday in which he ripped off a 44-yard scamper for his first career score to end the first half.

Choquette now has 33 carries for 214 yards with a not-too-shabby six yards per carry average.

The Stampeders as a team combined for 211 yards on the ground.

Lockdown defence

The 300-yard threshold is supposed to be the benchmark for a quarterback having a great day. Twice now, Bo Levi Mitchell has surpassed that mark against the Stampeders’ secondary, but in neither game did it feel like the Ticats were truly in it.

An early interception by Adrian Greene led to a Stampeders’ field goal, and a matching pick by Derrick Moncrief in the fourth quarter snuffed out any hope of a Ticats victory.

Greene now has five interceptions in 11 games, just one off the league lead.

A special mention to Jaydon Grant, who may not have been credited with an interception, but forced a turnover on downs late in the game when he deflected a Mitchell pass on third down.

Nowhere to run to, baby, nowhere to hide

Even better than the secondary was the front seven, who held the Ticats to just 34 yards rushing on ten carries.

The defensive line also got to Mitchell four times, with both Clarence Hicks and Charles Wiley picking up a pair of sacks.

On top of all that, they took the ball away from the Tictas in the red zone, stuffing a short-yardage attempt to end the third quarter.

Paredes pays it off

In the first half, the Stampeders were able to move the ball, but until the aforementioned Choquette touchdown, all the scoring came off the leg of Rene Paredes, who hit his first four kicks to claim a 12-3 lead.

The ageless wonder moved into fifth place all-time for successful field goal kicks, passing Troy Westwood, and finished the game with 622 career makes on 711 kicks in 245 appearances. Up next for Paredes would be Paul Osbaldiston, who made 669 kicks on 927 attempts over 304 games.

Paredes did miss one kick in the game, going just wide on a 54-yard attempt in the second quarter.

Schedule snafu

I know the Stampeders are playing on the road, but it’s atrocious that the football team kicked off at 1:00 p.m. local time while the local hockey team had their home opener at 2:00 p.m. local time. They are owned by the same organization, and they couldn’t avoid overlapping their two premier franchises?

It happened once before when both teams had a home game, but there is no excuse for this kind of overlap. It kills potential viewership for both, and as a season ticket holder for the Flames, I had to find someone else to use my tickets to ensure I could properly cover the Stampeders.

A brief apology

For regular readers of this column, I want to apologize for not being able to write about last weekend’s game between the Lions and Stampeders.

With a combination of my son’s graduation dinner from minor lacrosse, which I had to attend as the head coach, and a looming teacher’s strike throwing other plans akimbo, I wasn’t able to watch the game in a timely manner — let alone offer any thoughts that would have been relevant by the time I’d have them written.

Shouldn’t happen again this season, and I appreciate your grace!

Next up

The Stampeders will now head home to host the Toronto Argonauts in the annual Pink Power game at McMahon, before finishing up the regular season up the highway against the Edmonton Elks a week later.

The Stampeders may yet tuck themselves in with a clinched playoff spot tonight, depending on the results of the second game between the Elks and Blue Bombers.

If the Elks lose, they will be eliminated from the postseason. Meanwhile, the Stampeders remain very much in the hunt to host the West Division semi-final.

They will likely need to win out their final two games and would still need help by virtue of a season-series tiebreak that favours the B.C. Lions, who have the Elks and a likely resting-their-starters Roughriders squad still on the docket in the final game of the regular season.