In a Canadian city known as the “Heart of the New West,” the Hamilton Tiger-Cats fell to an old Canadian Football League tormentor.
Rene Paredes kicked four field goals and running back Donald Jackson scored on a clinching 44-yard run to boost the Calgary Stampeders to a 28-14 victory at McMahon Stadium in Calgary, Alberta. It was the 2018 opener for both teams.
The Tiger-Cats have not defeated the Stampeders since 2011, and are winless in Calgary since 2004.
“On the road is always hard,” Hamilton coach June Jones said in a telephone interview.
In last year’s meeting at McMahon, the Stampeders won 60-1, dropping the Tiger-Cats to 0-5 and leading to the hiring of the former Hawaii head coach Jones as an offensive assistant. Three weeks — and three losses — later, the 0-8 Tiger-Cats promoted Jones to head coach. The Tiger-Cats went 6-4 the rest of the way.
But Calgary proved to be an opening road block for the Tiger-Cats, despite a run-and-shoot offense that featured many of Jones’ favorite concepts. The Tiger-Cats employed 5-foot-10, 250-pound Nikita Whitlock, a converted defensive tackle, as a running back. They inserted the shovel pass into the playbook. And quarterback Jeremiah Masoli, a Saint Louis School alumnus, provided familiarity and skills for the run-and-shoot and spread schemes.
Masoli completed 25 of 36 passes for 344 yards. After collaborating with Mike Jones on a 76-yard completion, Masoli raced 13 yards on a read-option keeper to give the Tiger-Cats a 7-6 lead in the first quarter.
The Stampeders trailed 11-9 through three quarters before dominating the final 15 minutes. Paredes’ fourth field goal, from 19 yards, gave Calgary a 12-11 lead on the first play of the fourth quarter.
Later, Bo Levi Mitchell, a one-time UH commitment who played for Jones at SMU, threw a 15-yard scoring pass to Kamar Jorden to extend the margin to 20-11.
The Tiger-Cats closed to 20-14 on Lirim Hajrullahu’s 43-yard field goal with 4:35 to play, then regained possession following a punt at the three-minute warning. But after two completions to Jalen Saunders and Whitlock’s 13-yard scamper, Masoli was flushed from the pocket on first-and-10 from the Calgary 45. Defensive back Brandon Smith intercepted Masoli’s pass at the 35. Three plays later, Jackson scored on the 44-yard run and then added a 2-point conversion to close the scoring.
Of Masoli’s pick, Jones said, “That was a tough one. But he makes a lot of plays.”
Hamilton’s backup quarterback, 2012 Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel, did not take a snap. Manziel has not played in a regular-season game since his release from the Cleveland Browns at the end of the 2015 NFL season. Manziel signed with Hamilton in May.
Jones indicated Manziel will remain in a backup role. “Jeremiah would have to play not very good,” Jones said. “But Jeremiah plays very well.”
The Tiger-Cats, who gained only 56 rushing yards on 12 carries, were without former UH running back Alex Green. Green will miss at least another game after suffering an injury in last week’s exhibition.
“They hung together,” Jones said of the Tiger-Cats. “They had to overcome a lot of adverse stuff — fumbles, a punt blocked. We still battled through. … We’ll grade it, get it out of the way, and we’ll win the next one.”
