The Calgary Stampeders beat the Saskatchewan Roughriders 37-31 at Mosaic Stadium on Friday for their third straight win. Vernon Adams Jr. completed 22 of 29 passes for 242 yards and four touchdowns, Ashton Miller-Melancon intercepted Trevor Harris in the fourth quarter, and head coach and general manager Dave Dickenson won two challenges. Calgary improved to 8-8 and Saskatchewan fell to 8-7 in the West Division.
Dickenson said the night started going sideways before kickoff, with offensive linemen Zack Williams and Bryce Bell both hurt. "We lost Zack Williams in warm-ups, something popped in his ankle," Dickenson said. "We have a guy here, but it was too late. It was past the deadline to get the other player stocked, ready to go. So we put Bryce in and Zack was just maybe going to be an emergency. Well, then Bryce gets hurt and Zack's in there just basically on one leg."
Dickenson said Williams stayed on the field. "Credit to him to really just gut it out and have a great effort," he said. "I don't know how hurt he is. So hopefully we can find a way to get better on that side."
Dickenson Wins Two Challenges
Dickenson's two challenges both went Calgary's way. TSN reported that the first came late in the third quarter with Calgary ahead 20-13, when Dickenson challenged an illegal block downfield on a 15-yard Harris completion to KeeSean Johnson and the Riders were penalized. The second came midway through the fourth quarter with Calgary ahead 27-13: Miller-Melancon intercepted Harris on a deep pass, Calgary's Zy Alexander was flagged for pass interference, and the call was overturned on review. The interception stood, Calgary took over at the Saskatchewan 21, and Jalen Philpot caught a four-yard touchdown five plays later.
"They ended up being good for us, kept momentum on our side," Dickenson said. "Obviously a big interception there that I wanted to keep on the board as well, but you never know if you're going to win them all." He added: "I was pretty confident I was going to win the blocking downfield. I saw that one with my own eyes. The other one I thought certainly, to me, it could have been OPI, not DPI."
Miller-Melancon, who Dickenson said was making his first career start, had the only Calgary interception. "I was a little nervous when they threw the DPI penalty at first," Miller-Melancon said. "When it finally set in that there wasn't the penalty, it was a pretty surreal moment. But at the same time, we still had a game to win, so I couldn't — I'll bask in it a little bit when I get to the locker room, but I haven't really thought about it too much since."
Dickenson also described the secondary change behind the start: Damon Webb moved up to the Sam position and Lance Boykin played corner. "Early, I think you could tell there was some learning, some growing pains," Dickenson said. "I wanted to get bigger at the corner, have bigger people out there for run game and screens, and to match up against their receivers. So putting Lance out there, I thought he held his own, did a good job. Ashton has been getting better each and every week, and I have faith in him. He'll still be challenged. He can get better at his tackling and little things, but certainly a nice start."
Adams on the Second-Quarter Lull
Calgary scored three points in the second quarter, on a 51-yard René Paredes field goal. "We had a lull in the second quarter there and we knew we just had to step it up," Adams said. "Our defense was getting some stops, they missed a couple field goals, so we had opportunities. Then we came out in the second half and we just thought we needed to step it up a bit, and I think that's what we did."
"When we had those few two-and-outs in the second quarter, I was trying to force some things and I was playing out of character," Adams said. On the fourth-quarter drive that ended in a 19-yard touchdown to Tevin Jones, Adams said it came down to his reads. "Tevin just did a really good job converting on his route. He put his hand up, I went through my read and he made the play for me. I just put it in the area, he did the rest."
Dickenson assessed the same drive. "A lot of big throws, really good protection though," he said. "Had a nice clean pocket and he stood in there and he used his eyes and he found the open guys and our guys made catches for him. He's doing the little things better and better, but also just doing the same things he was doing early, being explosive but still taking care of the football."
Jones on the Fourth-Quarter Drive
Jones finished with three catches for 38 yards and the touchdown. "This feels like home. This is where I started, and I'm just glad that we came out with the win," Jones said.
Jones described the drive. "It was really impressive to watch the whole thing. It was glad to see EB came through with the first down, Clark came through with the first down. And then VA is going through his reads, making the right reads, throwing the right balls, and all of us taking things one play at a time, one step at a time."
"I feel like we're all getting hot at the right time," Jones said. "The game's not perfect, we left a lot on the field, but as long as we're just moving forward and fixing our mistakes."
Hicks: "We Strive Through Adversity"
Clarence Hicks had one sack. "That just says that we strive through adversity. We don't get too down, we don't get too low, we don't get too high," Hicks said. "I know a lot of people count us out, but I knew this team was gonna overcome what we was going through."
"Coach said it, the last two wins we had, get some momentum going, win two in a row, that's gonna create momentum. Momentum is real big in any sport, so once you got the momentum going, our momentum was higher than Sask coming to this game, so we just rolled into it." — Clarence Hicks
Hicks now has 12 sacks this season, matching the team-leading 12 he recorded in 2025. "I'm a little mad because three of them this year didn't count, so I'm really at 15. I'm tired right now, but I plan on getting a lot more, just to help my team win. I'm very hard on myself, so I'm a little happy about it, but I'm more happy to win. That's what I really focus on."
Watch the Full Videos
Calgary Stampeders: General Manager & Head Coach Dave Dickenson | Post-Game | 02.10.26
Calgary Stampeders: Ashton Miller-Melancon | Post-Game | 02.10.26
Calgary Stampeders: Vernon Adams Jr. | Post-Game | 02.10.26
Calgary Stampeders: Tevin Jones | Post-Game | 02.10.26
Calgary Stampeders: Clarence Hicks | Post-Game | 02.10.26