The Calgary Stampeders picked up their first road victory of the season on Saturday, beating the Saskatchewan Roughriders 27-12 in the final regular season game of the year.

The Stampeders, who finish the CFL season last in the West Division with a 5-12-1 record, added some salt to Saskatchewan’s already disappointing day.

“I just didn’t feel like we had the juice tonight and it showed,” head coach Corey Mace said after the game. “Honestly, it’s negative tonight because we really wanted this game. But myself and everyone, we have work to do tomorrow.”

The Riders entered the game with an outside chance of finishing first in the West. Saskatchewan needed the Montreal Alouettes to beat the Winnipeg Blue Bombers early in the game, which would give the Riders the opportunity to take first place by beating the Stampeders.

Winnipeg beat Montreal 28-27 to clinch first place. The Bombers will host the West Division final on November 9, while the 9-8-1 Riders will host the BC Lions on November 2 in the West semi-final. The Winnipeg game was shown on the big screen at Mosaic Stadium before the game.

“If I’m honest, I was on the pitch and sitting on the bench and just watching our specialists kick (during their warm-up). So the fans let me know the reaction of what happened. past,” Mace explained. .

With Winnipeg’s victory, the Riders made a number of changes to their roster, removing defensive back Rolan Milligan, running back AJ Ouellette and receivers KeeSean Johnson and Samuel Emilus. They also chose to start Shea Patterson at quarterback in place of veteran center Trevor Harris.

“We thought about it throughout the week and talked to the guys about it towards the end of the week, potential changes to the team depending on situations and scenarios,” Mace said. “The timing was pretty good for us to warm up properly and everyone understood the situation, so we had no excuses tonight.”

Patterson played most of the first half and struggled, completing just six of 13 passes for 62 yards. The Riders were held to 104 total offensive yards in the first half. Rookie Jack Coan replaced Patterson for the final possession of the first half and played the rest of the game for the Riders.

“It was really difficult emotionally because you come into the day knowing that maybe you could play and of course it came down to the last second. But it was bittersweet because we would love to have a bye in the first round, but again, I had to play,” Coan told reporters.

Coan finished the night 10 for 21 and 100 yards, including a touchdown pass to Jerreth Sterns.

“It’s been a while since I’ve been to live games, not counting preseason. But it was fun to be back out there.”

Calgary quarterback Jake Maier got off to a slow start, completing just one of his first seven passes. He got into rhythm late in the first quarter, connecting with Clark Barnes on passes of 40 and 33 yards, respectively. Barnes’ second reception resulted in a touchdown to give the Stampeders a 7-3 lead.

The Stampeders increased their lead to 14-3 midway through the third quarter when Maier hit Cam Echols on a nine-yard touchdown run.

On the first play of the fourth quarter, Marken Michel hauled in a 67-yard touchdown pass from Maier, making the score 24-6.

In the fourth quarter, Coan threw his first CFL touchdown by hitting Jerreth Sterns on a 19-yard pass. A failed two-point conversion left the score at 24-12.

Maier completed 19 of 26 passes for 293 yards and three touchdowns. Dedrick Mills totaled 128 rushing yards on 20 carries for the Stampeders.

René Paredes made two field goals for the Stampeders while Brett Lauther made two field goals for the Riders.

Demerio Houston, Julian Howsare and Justin Sambu each had a sack for Calgary. Jayden Dalke and Benoit Marion had sacks for Saskatchewan.

The Riders will return to on-field activities on Tuesday to prepare for their West Semi-Final game against British Columbia and the team is already excited for the challenge.

“I think the rush to get there is certainly there. We have our work cut out for us,” Mace said.

“Our goal is to completely stop feeling the way we have now. But at the end of the day, it’s football. We kick the ball, we have a job to do, and we didn’t accomplish it tonight, so that’s the disappointing part.”

-With files from The Canadian Press