THE CANADIAN PRESS/ARGONAUTS.CA STAFF
TORONTO — Henry Burris’ eight-yard TD strike to Jeremaine Copeland with less than a minute remaining rallied the Calgary Stampeders to a 23-20 win over Toronto and hand the Argonauts a club-record 10th straight home defeat Friday night.
Burris marched the Stampeders (4-4) 40 yards on four plays, capping the drive with the completion to Copeland at 14:14 of the fourth quarter, his second TD of the game. It came after Toronto’s Cody Pickett hit newcomer P.K. Sam with a 19-yard touchdown at 10:21 put Toronto ahead 20-16.
Pickett found an open Sam — playing his first game of the season for the Toronto — in the corner of the end zone after Sandro DeAngelis’s 42-yard field goal at 8:34 had put Calgary ahead 16-13.
Argos QB Cody Pickett finished the contest with a solid 311 yards passing and 2 touchdowns on 32 of 45 completions. The unlikely favourite target for Pickett was actually RB Jamal Robertson who finished with a team high 11 receptions for 91 yards.
Copeland’s fourth-quarter heroics capped an entertaining second half that mercifully injected some much-needed life into the contest for the Rogers Centre gathering of 25,329. Spectators were forced to endure a simply brutal opening half that featured 14 combined punts and just a field goal apiece.
Calgary had a glorious chance to break the 3-3 tie early in the third when Odell Willis recovered Pickett’s fumble at the Toronto 34-yard line and an unnecessary roughness penalty moved the ball to the 19-yard line. But Zeke Moreno’s interception ended the Stamps’ threat.
Pickett finally gave the Argos faithful something to cheer about when he hit Sam on an 11-yard TD strike at 8:44. The touchdown was set up by Jason Pottinger’s recovery of Titus Ryan’s punt return fumble at the Calgary 16-yard line.
That seemed to inspire the Stampeders, who countered with a smart six-play, 71-yard drive that Burris capped with a 17-yard touchdown pass at 12:23 to make it 10-10. That completion moved Burris into a first-place tie with Doug Flutie for the most completions in club history (1,438) — a record he broke later in the game.
Sandro DeAngelis finished with three field goals and two converts.
Justin Medlock kicked two field goals and two converts.
A field goal apiece is all the two teams could muster in the opening half as each offence had about as much flow as a stagnant swamp. The defences dominated play as Pickett was 15-of-21 passing but for just 104 yards — eight of his completions to running back Jamal Robertson for 58 yards — while Burris completed 6-of-13 passes for 75 yards.
Overall, Calgary mustered 134 total yards and seven first downs while Toronto had just 115 yards and six first downs.
The two busiest players were Medlock and Calgary’s Burke Dales, who had a combined 14 punts in the opening half.
NOTES — Receiver Cory Rogers, linebacker Alphonso Hodge, tackle Jonta Woodard and defensive lineman Walter Curry didn’t dress for Toronto. Linebackers Marc Calixte and Matt Grootegoed, running back Demetris Summer and defensive end Juwan Simpson were Calgary’s scratches . . . Argos running back Jamal Robertson was on Calgary’s practice squad in 2001 when the club won the Grey Cup . . . Burris became Calgary’s career passing leader in its 38-25 loss to Edmonton on Aug. 13. Burris came into this game with 20,792 passing yards to surpass Flutie (20,561).