Ottawa Redblacks' Lorenzo Mauldin celebrates an interception against the Calgary Stampeders during first half CFL football action in Calgary, Alta., Sunday, July 23, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Larry MacDougal
CALGARY – The Ottawa Redblacks picked up their first road win of the season and a second straight overtime victory with a 43-41 win Sunday over the host Calgary Stampeders.
Redblacks’ Ante Milanovic-Litre scored a pair of rushing touchdowns, including one in extra time for Ottawa (3-3).
Nate Behar caught a touchdown pass plus the two-point convert throw in overtime to seal the victory for the visitors.
Justin Hardy caught a touchdown throw and Brandin Dandridge ran an interception back for a major.
After spurring Ottawa to an electric win over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers with a late rushing touchdown and another in overtime, Redblacks starting quarterback Dustin Crum completed 23 of 29 passes for 257 yards and a pair of touchdown throws.
The 24-year-old Kent State product also rushed for 57 yards.
The 24-year-old has passed for 667 yards and rushed for 251 in just over 2 1/2 games since Jeremiah Masoli ruptured his Achilles tendon in the second quarter July 10 against Hamilton.
Ottawa’s Lewis Ward kicked field goals from 33 yards and 36 yards and added a pair of convert points.
Marken Michel caught a pair of touchdown passes, Clark Barnes scored his first career CFL touchdown, backup quarterback Tommy Stevens contributed a rushing major and Tre Odoms-Dukes caught a touchdown pass in overtime for the Stampeders (2-4).
Kicker Rene Paredes was good from 26 yards, 32 yards and 47 yards, and made one of two converts in front of an announced 21,226 at McMahon Stadium, where the Stamps remain winless in three games.
Ottawa tops the CFL in defending the run, so the hosts took to the air Sunday.
Quarterback Jake Maier threw for a season-high 450 yards, including four touchdown passes and two interceptions. Maier was 0-for-3 on two-point convert attempts.
Maier connected with Odoms-Dukes on a seven-yard touchdown throw in the first series of overtime, but the two-point convert attempt failed.
Ottawa countered with Milanovic-Litre’s second of the game on a three-yard dash.
Crum’s two-point convert throw to Behar sealed the win for Ottawa’s first back-to-back victories this season.
Temperature at kick off was 30 Celsius under slightly hazy skies at McMahon.
Trailing by a point at halftime, Calgary jumped ahead 25-20 on its first possession of the second half, but wasn’t successful on a two-point convert attempt.
The visitors regained the lead before the end of the third quarter to take a 28-25 lead into the fourth, when Cody Grace’s punt single for Calgary with 11 minutes to play cut the deficit to two points.
From deep in their own zone following an Ottawa punt, Maier connected with Michel for a 95-yard touchdown and a 32-28 lead with eight minutes to play.
Maier’s two-point convert pass attempt to Barnes failed.
Ottawa turned the ball over on downs, but Maier was subsequently intercepted a second time in the game when a pass attempt to Barnes was tipped into the arms of Alonzo Addae.
Crum again moved the chains on a 12-play, 87-yard drive with a 23-yard touchdown throw to Behar. Ottawa led by a field goal on Ward’s convert with 1:20 to play.
The Stampeders’ offence got the football into field-goal range for Paredes to force OT with his 47-yard boot.
A 26-yard Tommylee Lewis punt return and a horse collar tackle by Abdul Kanneh put the Stampeders on Ottawa’s doorstep for Stevens to finish with a one-yard plunge on Calgary’s first drive of the second half.
After Levante Bellamy blocked a Richie Leone punt, Jordan Herdmann-Reed landed on the loose ball to give the hosts the ball on Ottawa’s 48-yard line.
But Calgary’s faked field goal and a Stevens run that came up short turned the ball over on downs.
Crum then marched Ottawa’s offence downfield and ended a 72-yard drive with a 24-yard touchdown throw to Hardy.
The Redblacks’ pivot then kept and ran for a two-point convert.
Ottawa cashed in on a pair of Calgary turnovers in the first half to lead 17-6 by early in the second quarter.
The Stampeders responded with an eight-play, 75-yard scoring drive finished by Michel’s over-the-shoulder catch on a 33-yard throw from Maier.
Lewis’s 33-yard punt return and Ottawa’s unnecessary roughness penalty put the ball on the Redblack’s 36 yard line with a minute to play in the second quarter.
The Stampeders settled for a Paredes’s 32-yard field goal to trail 20-19 at the half.
Crum was sacked on three straight plays in the second quarter, when Lewis and Paredes traded field goals of 36 and 26 yards, respectively.
Maier’s fumble handing the ball off to Dedrick Mills was recovered by Redblacks defensive end Lorenzo Mauldin to start the second quarter.
Mauldin, the CFL’s defensive player of the year in 2022, was a game-time decision by Ottawa to participate Sunday.
Crum ran the ball 28 yards to Calgary’s doorstep, followed by former Stampeder Milanovic-Litre’s three-yard carry to the end zone.
Dandridge picked off a Maier pass intended for Reggie Begelton for a pick six in the final minute of the first quarter.
Ward’s convert spotted the visitors a 10-6 lead.
On Calgary’s second drive of the game, Maier aired the ball out downfield to Barnes, who outsprinted Ottawa’s Deandre Lamont for a 54-yard catch and run to the end zone.
The Stampeders led 6-3 after Paredes missed the convert.
Ottawa produced points on its first possession with Ward’s 33-yard field goal.
UP NEXT
The Redblacks are at home to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats (2-4) on Friday.
The Stampeders travel to Montreal to face the Alouettes (2-3) on Sunday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 23, 2023.
