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The road to the Grey Cup in Regina for the Saskatchewan Roughriders will go through Calgary.

The Green and White lost 29-25 to the Stampeders on Saturday night at McMahon Stadium and will finish in second place in the West Division.

It was another game of missed opportunities for the Riders as their offence couldn’t capitalize on four first half turnovers forced by their defence and allowed the Stamps to hang around.

The teams traded field goals in the first quarter.  Jon Cornish fumbled on Calgary’s second play from scrimmage to set up a 23-yard field goal by Chris Milo.

The Riders had a great chance to add to the lead on their next possession after Diamond Ferri picked off Kevin Glenn, but the drive ended in a punt.

Calgary would get on the board after that with a 16-yard field goal by Rene Paredes.  The Stamps jumped in front 10-3 to start the second quarter when Glenn found Anthony Parker for an 11-yard touchdown.

After the Riders offence failed to answer, the defence gave them another chance with Tearrius George forcing a fumble out of Glennon a sack at the Calgary five-yard line.

An incomplete pass and a sack later led to another field goal by Milo and a 10-6 Calgary lead.  The Riders would cut the lead to one after Milo’s third field goal of the first half. 

Saskatchewan got the ball right back thanks to another forced fumble by George.  They would capitalize this time as the offence moved the ball to the one-yard line and Durant took it in from there for a 15-10 lead at halftime.

The second half got off to a rough start for the Riders with Jock Sanders fumbling the opening kickoff and Calgary cutting the lead to 15-13 on a 34-yard field goal by Paredes.

The Stamps made a switch at quarterback in the second half and it seemed to spark them as Drew Tate led them down the field on their next drive, capping it off with a one-yard touchdown run and a 19-15 lead after a failed two-point convert.

The Riders would cut the lead to one again on a 36-yard field goal by Milo, his fourth of the game, but another Paredes field goal would restore the four-point lead for Calgary a short while later.

With a response needed from the offence, the Riders finally got it with five minutes to go.  Durant found Taj Smith wide open for a go-ahead touchdown with 4:52 to go.

Calgary answered right back however with Tate leading the offence down field.  He hit Jeff Fuller with a deep pass that got the Stamps to the four-yard line and Cornish did the rest, putting Calgary up 29-25 with 1:48 to go.

Durant was picked off by Chris Randle on the ensuing drive to end the game.

Durant finished 17-for-31 passing with 202 yards, a touchdown and that game-ending interception.  Tate completed 11-of-16 for 181 yards in the second half.  Glenn threw for 120 yards in the first half for Calgary.

The game was built up as a battle between the two running backs all week and Cornish won that battle, finishing with 109 yards on 20 carries and the game-winning touchdown.  Sheets had 11 carries for 42 yards.

Chris Getzlaf left the game with an apparent knee injury in the third quarter and didn’t return.   He did go over 1,000 yards for the season in the game though and finished with three catches for 49 yards.  Smith had three for 53 yards and a touchdown.

The Riders will finish off the season next Saturday against the Edmonton Eskimos at Mosaic Stadium.  They will host the West Semifinal against the BC Lions the week after that.