The Canadian Press
CALGARY — The Calgary Stampeders earned a 36-10 victory over the West Division rival Saskatchewan Roughriders as the 2022 CFL regular season officially comes to a close.
For a second consecutive week the Stampeders found an abundance of success with their rushing attack, totaling 310 rushing yards on 28 carries in the win. Quarterback Tommy Stevens had a career-night as he exploded for 163 yards on just four carries, including an 85-yard touchdown run to mark the longest scoring play of the season.
Stevens also recorded another milestone in the outing, connecting with receiver Jalen Philpot for a nine-yard score in the final quarter, giving the first-year Stampeder his first career passing touchdown.
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Stevens was asked about his performance in the regular season finale, speaking to TSN’s Brit Dort post-game Stevens was quick to acknowledge the efforts made by the linemen in the game.
“I’m happy with that,” said Stevens. “As a team we rushed for, I believe it was 309, obviously it starts up front both offence and defence, I thought we brought it on both sides of the ball.
“We’ve been running the ball really, really well lately and it’s starting to get cold so it’ll be useful for us in the playoffs.”
When asked what about what went into earning a win in their final game before starting a playoff run, Stevens maintained that his team’s approach was to prepare they same way that had all season long.
“We approached the game the same way,” said Stevens. “We tried to just continue to build off of what we had last week and I think we did. We’ve got a big week coming next week, so we’ll continue to grind and try to go out and get one next week.”
Despite having a career-night, Stevens was adamant that there was little time to celebrate. Noting that his plan is immediately begin to evaluate film, knowing that the team has an opportunity to make a post-season run.
“We’ll come in tomorrow, we’ll grade the film,” said Stevens. “But we’ve got to get rolling, we’ve got three weeks left.”
The Stampeders will travel to Vancouver next week as they prepare to meet the BC Lions in the Western Semi-Final on November 6 from BC Place.
