Stampeders do their part — now Calgary’s playoff fate rests with B.C.

he Calgary Stampeders did everything they could Saturday night, beating the B.C. Lions 32-13 at McMahon Stadium to finish the regular season 9-9 and keep their playoff hopes alive. Vernon Adams Jr. threw for 324 yards and a touchdown, Quincy Vaughn scored twice on the ground and Deonta McMahon piled up 149 yards from scrimmage, including 105 rushing. Calgary entered halftime tied 13-13 before completely taking over after the break, shutting B.C. out over the final 30 minutes while scoring 19 unanswered points. The win was Calgary’s fourth in its final five games and ensured a season that looked close to finished at 5-8 will remain alive for at least one more week.

Now comes the uncomfortable part: the Stampeders have no games left and no control over what happens next. Saskatchewan secured one of the remaining playoff positions with its victory over Montreal, leaving Calgary and Winnipeg fighting for the crossover berth. Winnipeg sits at 8-9 and plays B.C. in Vancouver on Friday, October 23. Calgary needs the Blue Bombers not to win. A B.C. victory would leave Winnipeg at 8-10 and send the 9-9 Stampeders into the playoffs; mathematically, a tie would also leave Winnipeg below Calgary in the standings. But if Winnipeg wins, the Bombers would also finish 9-9 and advance because they hold the season-series tiebreaker over Calgary. The CFL’s official postgame scenario says a Winnipeg loss would send the Stampeders east to face the Toronto Argonauts in the Eastern Semi-Final on October 31.

That leaves Calgary in the strange position of becoming B.C. Lions fans less than a week after beating them. The Stampeders can at least take some satisfaction from how they reached this point: Adams was decisive in difficult conditions, McMahon supplied the explosive running game and Calgary’s defence produced arguably its strongest half of the season when elimination was staring the team in the face. Saturday also carried extra weight as René Paredes played what could be his final game at McMahon before retirement. Whether that becomes the end of Calgary’s season or merely the beginning of an unlikely crossover playoff run will now be decided 1,000 kilometres away in Vancouver.