OTTAWA — It took a bit for the Calgary Stampeders to get in gear on both sides of the ball Friday, but when they did, they took over the game.
KaDeem Carey had a rushing touchdown, Kamar Jorden had a receiving touchdown and Rene Paredes kicked four field goals in leading the Stampeders to a 26-13 over the Ottawa Redblacks on Friday night.
Calgary's defence chipped in with five quarterback sacks and allowed just three points through the final three quarters
"I thought it was a good, solid performance. I didn’t really think there was a lot fancy there, I just think we came out and did our job,” Stampeders coach Dave Dickenson said. “There were some challenges. I think ultimately Ottawa showed up to play, but we had some good things in us and we just kind of took the game over and didn’t make a lot of big mistakes."
Parades kicked a 47-yard field goal with just over two minutes to play for the only scoring of the fourth quarter.
The Stampeders (6-6) have won four of their last five games while the Redblacks (2-10) are on their second five-game losing streak of the season.
Bo Levi Mitchell completed 22-of-29 passes for 242 yards for the Stampeders while Carey had 103 yards rushing.
Defensive lineman Mike Ross wasn’t in total agreement with Dickenson and wasn’t as forgiving of the defence despite his two sacks and three tackles.
“Ok I’m gonna keep it real with y’all … we sucked on defence. We sucked. We did not play to our standard and we have to play much better,” Rose said.
“And when I say we I’m specifically talking about my group. I can’t speak to other groups, but I did not think we played to our ability, and I think we’re a much better group than that. We need to play much better in the run game.”
The night was short lived for Redblacks running pack Brendan Gillanders.
The Ottawa native was playing in his 100th CFL game but suffered an ankle injury making a tackle on the opening kick-off of the game. He did not return.
“I didn’t know the severity of the injury, but it’s definitely sad,” Redblacks quarterback Caleb Evans said about Gillanders.
“I wish he could have played the game out and enjoyed his 100th game but I know he’s got some more games.”
Evans was 15-of-28 for 173 yards for the Redblacks.
"We need to win a football game. that's what we get paid to do," said Redblacks coach Paul LaPolice. "As I see it, the execution was good enough for us to kick field goals, score touchdowns. It's disappointing. It's still a loss. You have to go into that room with those guys who worked their tails off and talk to them after a loss. That's the hard part."
Ottawa opened the scoring at 5:23 on a 15-yard field goal from Lewis Ward, but those points were tremendously aided by a 50-yard catch-and-run from Evans to Nate Behar.
Parades tied the game 3-3 with a 43-yard field goal at 10:03, and then a 11-yard touchdown reception by Kenny Stafford was 18 seconds left in the first quarter gave the Redblacks a 10-3 lead after the conversion.
That was the end of the first-half good news for Ottawa as it got just two first downs in the second quarter, one via penalty, and was outscored 10-0.
Carey scored on a three-yard run at 2:25 and Parades kicked a 27-yard field goal at 10:18 for a 13-10 Calgary lead.
The Stampeders carried that momentum into the third quarter, forcing the Redblacks to a two-and-out on the first drive before moving the ball 44 yards and finishing up with a 28-yard field goal from Parades at 4:28.
Ward got those three points back though with a 24-yard field goal with just over four minutes to play in the quarter.
The Stampeders closed out the quarter with a 15-yard pass from Jake Maier, who replaced Mitchell at quarterback for that play and three other short yardage plays, to Jorden and the Stampeders took a 23-13 lead into the fourth.
It was Maier’s only pass of the game.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 29, 2021.
Darren Desaulniers, The Canadian Press
