The Calgary Stampeders fought their way back.
It wasn’t enough and they lost 31-29 to the Ottawa Redblacks on a last-second field goal.
It drops the Stamps to 4-6 on the season and was their first loss at home.
Obviously, that’s disappointing.
But some context is required here.
These same Redblacks beat the Stamps 33-6 less than a month ago. They’re a very good football team. Losing to them is not, in and of itself, the end of the world, even if it does make things harder for the Stamps going forward as they look to hold off the teams behind them in the West Division playoff race.
The Stampeders, though, did not go meekly into the night.
They battled. They deserve credit for that.
After a tight, high-scoring first quarter, those Redblacks looked like they’d made the necessary adjustments and were taking it to the Stamps.
In the second and third quarters, the offence had dried up completely. Ottawa running back Ryquell Armstead — not a popular guy around McMahon Stadium — was bursting through holes and moving the sticks.
The Stamps looked dead and buried and very much like a team that was heading into its bye week on a low.
And then, well, they woke up.
Quarterback Jake Maier seemed to remember that Reggie Begelton existed, and as anyone who has watched even the slightest bit of Stampeders football this season knows, the team is at its best when Begelton is seeing a lot of the ball.
Down 28-19 in the fourth quarter, Maier connected with his star receiver for a highlight-reel 50-yarder that set up a straightforward Tommy Stevens touchdown. It was a momentum-changing moment and came seemingly completely out of nowhere.
The Stamps’ defence did its job on the next drive and Rene Paredes even put them ahead 29-28.
On the ensuing drives, the Stamps’ defence again did what was asked, only for a two-and-out by the offence that gave the Redblacks an opportunity.
And that was all they needed. They got into field goal range and Lewis Ward did what he did with no time left on the clock, hitting a 51-yarder to secure the win for the Redblacks.
That hurts, plain and simple.
And the Stamps will look back on their second and third quarters and wonder what more they could have done.
After a solid start, the offence dried up — as it has a tendency to do.
They suffered one of those long stretches where they seem to get penalties on every second play, rely too heavily on low-risk, short-yardage plays and the offence can’t stay on the field.
It’s one of the most frustrating features of this Stamps team.
There are stretches where you see what they could be. Where Jake Maier — who completed 24-of-32 passes for 269 yards — finds receivers downfield and the defence puts pressure on the opposing QB and the offence moves the ball to the point where Tommy Stevens does what he does and runs the ball into the end zone. He had three touchdowns on Thursday.
But there are far too many times where we don’t see that.
Despite some genuinely huge plays in the fourth quarter, the defence again struggled to contain the opposition run. Ryquall Armstead ran the ball 11 times for 120 yards, while Jeremiah Masoli looked great in completing 27-of-36 passes for 254 yards and a touchdown.
When it clicks for these Stampeders like it did in the first and fourth quarters, they look good. When it doesn’t, like in the second and third on Thursday, it really doesn’t.
The loss doesn’t doom the Stamps. They’re still in the playoff fight.
But they need to figure out a way to put four quarters together.
And that seems a long way off.