Stampeders withstand Blue Bombers' rally for close win

Rookie receiver Lemar Durant scored his first CFL touchdown and quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell threw for more than 300 yards and ran in a major as the Calgary Stampeders held off the Blue Bombers for a 25-23 victory on Friday.

The win boosted Calgary's league-leading record to 10-3. Winnipeg fell to 4-9.

The Bombers squeezed the score to 25-22 with under two minutes left after Troy Stoudermire ran a punt back 40 yards.

That helped set up Matt Nichols' six-yard TD pass to Rory Kohlert in the end zone, followed by Cameron Marshall's run for the two-point convert with 1:54 to go.

Bombers had chance to tie

The Bombers started marching down the field and had a chance to tie the score, but were hurt by a procedure penalty. They ended up having to settle for a single when Lirim Hajrullahu's 50-yard field-goal attempt went wide right with 39 seconds left.

Mitchell was pressured by Winnipeg's defence, and sacked twice, but completed 27-of-35 pass attempts for 333 yards with one TD and one interception.

Nichols was 18 of 28 for 234 yards with two TDs and no picks in front of an announced crowd of 23,113 at Investors Group Field. The Stampeders had five sacks.

Durant, a Vancouver native, notched his first touchdown off a nine-yard reception. Mitchell ran eight yards for his major.

Stamps kicker Rene Paredes ran his field-goal streak to 21 in a row by connecting from 32, 27 and 10 yards. Rob Maver had a pair of punt singles.

In his second game back from injury, Stamps running back Jon Cornish rushed 16 times for 94 yards after being forced back a number of times by the Bombers' defence.

Winnipeg also got touchdowns off a 42-yard catch by Darvin Adams and a three-yard run by Marshall. Hajrullahu made both his converts.

Tied at the half

Calgary led 8-7 after the first quarter and the game was tied 14-14 at halftime.

Winnipeg quickly went from bad to good in the first quarter.

Stoudermire, filling in for a temporarily injured defensive back Johnny Adams, intercepted Mitchell's second pass of the game, but it was nixed by a Bomber pass-interference penalty.

Stoudermire soon grabbed a tipped Mitchell pass and three plays later, Nichols hit Adams with the 42-yard toss at 4:28 for the 7-0 lead after the convert.

The Bombers conceded a single three minutes later for Calgary's first point.

The Stampeders took the lead late in the first quarter after Durant capped an eight-play, 79-yard drive with his TD catch at 13:43.

Paredes' 32-yarder made it 11-7, but a face mask penalty by Calgary helped set up Marshall's team-leading sixth TD of the season at 7:15 of the second.

Aided by a 33-yard catch from Marquay McDaniel, Calgary got to Winnipeg's nine-yard line and Mitchell finished the 79-yard drive with an eight-yard run up the middle to regain a 21-14 lead at 5:12 of the third quarter.

A punt single by Maver made it 22-14 late in the third.

Winnipeg's defence turned the pressure up on Mitchell in the fourth quarter, but he managed to throw a 47-yard pass to Eric Rogers midway through.

The completion took the Stamps to Winnipeg's 18-yard line and then the three following a Bombers' penalty. After Cornish lost 10 yards, Paredes booted a 10-yard field goal for the 25-14 lead with under six minutes to play.