CALGARY — Dedrick Mills scored one touchdown in the 2024 CFL season. He started 2025 with three in a single game for the Calgary Stampeders.
The Stampeders downed the visiting Hamilton Tiger-Cats 38-26 in the season-opener for both clubs Saturday.
Mills rushed for 94 yards on 17 carries, while quarterback Vernon Adams Jr. completed 19 of 28 pass attempts for 284 yards, and rushed for 33 yards on three carries, in his highly-anticipated Stampeder debut.
Mills handed off the white cowboy hat as his team’s offensive player of the game to his offensive linemen.
“They did their thing and they got me in the end zone three times, so of course, man, I had to give it to them,” Mills said. “They deserved it.”
Adams’ backup P.J. Walker contributed a short-yardage touchdown and Rene Paredes kicked field goals from 42, 29 and 38 yards in front of an announced 18,682 on a breezy, hazy evening at McMahon Stadium.
Former Winnipeg Blue Bomber Kenny Lawler scored his first touchdown as a Tiger-Cat. Isiah Wooden returned a kickoff to score, while Marc Liegghio booted field goals from 47, 37 and 25 yards.
The Stampeders acquired Adams in a trade with the B.C. Lions a month after their 5-12-1 season ended in 2024.
He was intercepted twice in Saturday’s second quarter, but distributed the ball efficiently for 428 yards of net offence.
Adams scrambled out of the pocket to connect with Clark Barnes on a 65-yard passing play that Mills finished for a 34-11 lead to start the fourth quarter.
The Stampeders scored on their first drive of the game when Adams marched the offence 85 yards on nine plays.
“It’s always important to get some points on the first drive if you can,” Adams said. “I like receiving the ball because if we can go down and do that, that puts pressure on their offence to do it.
“Defence did a good job. Rene was Rene. And that was awesome operation on the special teams.
“It wasn’t pretty by any means, but it’s a win and it’s so hard to get wins in this league. We have a really good team and once we get it together, get it clicking, I think we’re going to be special.”
It was too little, too late when Ticats quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell found rhythm in his offence as the Stampeders had built a 15-point lead by the first play of the second half.
Mitchell completed 31 of 50 pass attempts for 304 yards and a touchdown throw in an interception-free start, but Hamilton also turned the ball over on downs three times.
“We have to do better jobs on offence, me put the ball in a catchable spot every time and let’s put two hands on it, locking it up, getting vertical,” Mitchell said.
“We just want to reward the defence when they’re playing that well in the first half. When you’re making Vernon throw two picks … in the first half, you’ve got to take advantage of them and I just think we didn’t do a good enough job of instantly kind of turning those into points.”
The Tiger-Cats haven’t won their first game of the season since 2019, while the Stampeders improved to 3-3 in their last six openers.
The game turned on Calgary’s kickoff to start the second half when Paredes’ kick hung in the wind, which gave Calgary’s Jeshrun Antwi time to get a hand on the football.
Teammate Kelon Thomas recovered at Hamilton’s 13-yard line. After Mills ran the ball to the one, Walker scored and Paredes’ convert gave Calgary a 25-10 lead.
Stopping the run was among Calgary’s priorities this season as the Stampeders were the worst in the CFL at it in 2024. They held the Ticats to 47 rushing yards Saturday.
“Definitely if you can make a team a little more one-dimensional, we had the lead though, which was nice too,” said Stampeders head coach and general manager Dave Dickenson.
“I did feel like they tried to run early and we were there and thought we spiked our ends and did some good things. They tried some deep throws on us, really weren’t able to do it. We’ve got some things we can get better at, but a good start for the defence.”
As for his new quarterback, Dickenson liked what he saw from Adams in the face of Hamilton’s pressure.
“What he does so well though is he escapes. He used his legs. The things we wanted from him, he did,” Dickenson said. “He got first downs with his legs. He got out of the pocket.”
UP NEXT
Stampeders: Visit the Toronto Argonauts next Saturday.
Tiger-Cats: Host the Saskatchewan Roughriders next Saturday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 7, 2025.
Donna Spencer, The Canadian Press
