Photo courtesy: David Moll/Calgary Stampeders
The Calgary Stampeders suffered a second straight walk-off loss at McMahon Stadium to open their 2026 season, falling 40-37 in double overtime.
Coming off a bye week, the Stamps were reminded that you can’t take the first half off against the reigning and defending Grey Cup champions and expect to play winning football.
After an atrocious first half that featured just 52 yards of offence from the hometown squad, someone in the press box asked loudly, ‘How do you spell anemic again?’
These are the five key plays that featured prominently in the loss.
Sask misses field goal to end first half after missing convert earlier – 0:00 left in Q2
This will seem confusing at first because Calgary’s Tyreik McAllister scored a 120-yard touchdown on the play.
However, because of this miss and subsequent score, Riders’ head coach Corey Mace elected to plant his kicker on the bench in the second half.
In the third quarter, the Roughriders converted a third-and-eight play from the Stampeders 33-yard line and eventually score a touchdown on the drive, while adding a two-point conversion, stretching the lead at the time to 31-17.
Those were the final points the Riders scored in regulation.
The plays that followed that third-down conversion also combined to eat up three minutes of game clock as well, keeping the Stampeders off the field.
If Mace had enough faith in Global kicker Alex Hale to send him once more into the breach in that moment, the game might have turned out differently.
Holding penalty against Vyshonne Janusas – double overtime
After trading field goals in the first overtime session, the Stampeders second possession in overtime seemed headed to the end zone as Erik Brooks caught the ball and brought it to Saskatchewan’s five-yard line.
The cheers in the stadium quickly turned to groans, and given the 50-50 makeup of the crowd, the groans quickly turned to cheers, as a holding penalty was assessed against Janusas, resulting in the line of scrimmage being moved back to the 35-yard line.
While only a 10-yard penalty on the books, it cost the Stampeders 30 yards of field position and forced them to settle for a field goal two plays later, having only been able to gain 17 of the 20 yards required for a possible first down.
It was the second penalty of the drive, which saw the Stampeders generate 38 yards of offence while only travelling 18 yards on the field. The first was an offensive pass interference call that likely broke up an interception.
Kian Schaffer-Baker gets loose – 4:47 left in Q2
It seemed like a routine catch into plus territory when Kian Schaffer-Baker found a soft spot in coverage and caught the ball on the Stampeders 36-yard line.
A juke here and a turn there. and all of a sudden KSB was in the end zone celebrating with teammates as they continued to dominate the first half.
It was the longest play of the game for the Riders, and highlighted a day where Trevor Harris threw for 349 yards, with most of them coming in the first half.
Schaffer-Baker scored two touchdowns on the day, his second a four-yard effort in the back of the end zone as part of an eight-catch nine-target game that saw him collect 130 yards through the air.
Calgary seemed to shift from a soft zone in the first half to tighter coverage in the second half, and it worked out as Calgary forced five straight punts in the third and fourth quarters, limiting Saskatchewan’s offence to 25 combined yards on their final five drives in regulation.
Tommy takes it in – last play of double overtime
Two seasons ago, Tommy Stevens packed his bags and headed to the greener pastures of Saskatchewan after beginning his career in Calgary. Back in the familiar confines of McMahon Stadium, Stevens was up to his old tricks, taking sneaks across the goal line.
Touchdown Tommy scored twice in the game, including the walk-off score to end the game.
Stevens has certainly carved out a role for himself as a short-yardage specialist. He now has nearly three times more career rushing touchdowns, 32 to be exact, than he has pass attempts in his career, 12.
Pick one – no first quarter first downs
I’ve mentioned already that the Stampeders finished the first half with just 52 yards of offence, one less than the Schaffer-Baker TD catch.
The first quarter featured zero first downs earned and three punts. The Stamps would also punt on their fourth possession of the game, but at least that time they were able to move the sticks, picking up 24 yards before booting it away.
In both losses to start the season, the Stampeders offence has gone into the tank for a portion of the game, before miraculously coming alive in the game’s dying moments for a touchdown drive to tie or take the lead.
They need to be better sooner, in the words of starting quarterback Vernon Adams Jr., who told the media after the game that he thought the team would come out better given the tempo of that week’s practices.
Up next
The Stampeders may get just what the doctor ordered in Week 4 against a struggling and heavily injured Lions team that is missing most of its starting receivers and has a defence that has struggled to stop anyone through the first two games.
