Stampeders earn a trip to the Grey Cup

The Calgary Stampeders are Grey Cup-bound for the first time in seven years.

Calgary's bend-but-not-break defence limited B.C. to six field goals en route to earning a 22-18 win over the visiting Lions on Saturday evening in the CFL's West Division final.

Calgary advances to next Sunday's Grey Cup in Montreal, where they face the daunting task of taking on the hometown Alouettes.

The Als defeated the Edmonton Eskimos 36-26 in the East Final on Saturday afternoon.

Calgary last won the Grey Cup in 2001 in Montreal.

"I told our players to enjoy the moment and enjoy the night and understand what they accomplished because what they accomplished was something good," said Calgary coach John Hufnagel.

A finalist for this year's most outstanding player award, Stampeders quarterback Henry Burris completed 17-of-27 passes for 236 yards with one interception. He also ran the ball in for a touchdown.

The star of the game was Calgary defensive end Mike Labinjo, who recorded two sacks, forced a fumble and made two consecutive tackles to prevent a B.C. touchdown early in the second half.

"That play he made down there in the goal-line area to force them to a field goal … was probably the play of the game," Hufnagel said. "Forcing them to kick that field goal, not only gave (our) defence momentum, but also the offence when they got on the field."

Calgary cornerback Brandon Browner also came up big when he reeled in an interception with 1:19 remaining in the game.

B.C. did a great job moving the ball in the first half (229 yards total offence compared to 89 for Calgary), but they simply could not finish, and it would come back to hurt before the teams went to the dressing room.

"We needed to score better when we got down there and we just didn't get it done," said Lions quarterback Buck Pierce. "I didn't get it done down there. My job is to put points on the board."

Already leading 3-0, Pierce (16-for-29, 262 yards, one interception) took his club on a long first-quarter drive that should have produced a touchdown but a hard throw into the end zone bounced in and out of Ryan Grice-Mullen's hands.

The Lions settled for a 30-yard field goal by Paul McCallum, increasing the margin to 6-0.

After another Stampeder punt, back came B.C. again, led by a 12-yard run for a first down by backup quarterback Jarious Jackson — in for one play — and nice receptions by Jason Clermont and Geroy Simon.

But the Calgary defence held again, and the Lions took another McCallum field goal, this one 35 yards, for a 9-0 lead.

B.C. gave up a safety later in the second quarter to make it 9-2.

Back came the Lions one more time as Pierce had his club first down on the Calgary 23. But after a Stefan Logan three-yard run and an overthrow of Clermont in the end zone, McCallum again had to come in, booting his fourth three-pointer of the half for a 12-2 lead.

Burris, however, put together a quick five-play drive in the final minute that resulted in a strike to the back of the end zone where Ken-Yon Rambo pulled the ball in behind Dante Marsh with nine seconds left on the clock.

With the convert, B.C.'s lead was down to 12-9 headed for the third quarter.

Logan was outstanding in the first half, piling up 94 yards on 13 carries against a Calgary defence specifically designed to stop him.

McCallum booted a 12-yarder to make it 15-9 for the Lions, but Sandro DeAngelis connected on two field goals later in the third to tie the game for the Stampeders.

Calgary built on its momentum, and put together an eight-play drive in the fourth, capped by Burris's one-yard touchdown run at 11:57 to give Calgary its first lead of the game.

McCallum kicked his sixth field goal of the contest, this time from 30 yards, a few minutes later to cut the Lions' deficit to four points.

But that was as close B.C. would come, as the Lions were held in check for the remainder of the game by the Stampeders' stellar defence.

"You're not going to win just by kicking field goals," McCallum said.