Defensive back Demerio Houston carried an interception into the end zone as the Winnipeg Blue Bombers held off the Calgary Stampeders 19-18.
Sergio Castillo made four field goals in the defence-first win for Winnipeg (8-2).
Quarterback Dru Brown finished 17-of-27 for 171 yards, starting in place of the injured Zach Collaros.
Kicker Rene Paredes went 6 for 8 on field goals to provide all the scoring for Calgary (3-7).
Stampeders QB Jake Maier 11-of-24 pass attempts for 190 yards and the pick to Houston.
Paredes came into the game with 18 straight field goals made, but missed his third kick of the game to end the streak at 20.
With the visitors trailing 12-9, Houston stepped in front of Maier’s pass intended for Marken Michel and raced 45 yards down the sidelines untouched for the score that gave the Blue Bombers the lead for good with Castillo’s extra point making it 16-12.
It was the league-leading seventh interception for Houston. Nobody else in the CFL has more than four.
Maier has been picked off 12 times on the season compared to just eight touchdown passes, which includes none over the past four games.
After Paredes’s 36-yard field goal got Calgary back to within a point at 16-15, back came the Blue Bombers with Castillo nailing his fourth field goal of the night, this one from 42 yards out.
The Stampeders again closed to within three points halfway through the fourth quarter on Parades’ sixth field goal of the night. This one was from 33 yards out late in the fourth quarter.
Calgary had a chance to go ahead when Parades lined up for a 50-yard attempt with under two minutes to go, but the attempt came up short.
Neither team was able to produce an offensive touchdown.
It appeared Maier had a touchdown pass in the third quarter when on a second down, he found a wide open Luther Hakunavanhu at the five-yard line. However, it went off the receiver’s hands and fell to the turf setting up yet another field goal.
The Hakunavanhu drop came in Calgary’s longest drive of the game midway through the third quarter in which after starting at their own 12, they drove down to the Winnipeg 11 with Michel’s 45-yard grab being the big play.
Instead, the Stampeders had to settle for an 18-yard field goal, briefly giving Calgary a six-point lead at 12-6.
That cushion was short lived as the Bombers answered right back two players later when on a second and 10, a 30-yard pass to Dalton Schoen, compounded by a 15-yard face masking penalty that took the ball down to the Calgary 25 and set up at Castillo 26-yard field goal that closed the gap to three points.
The first half was the battle of the kickers.
The deepest into the opposition end either team got in the opening 30 minutes, the Blue Bombers drove down to Calgary’s 11-yard line on their opening possession before settling for an 18-year field goal from Castillo.
Calgary answered back on its next possession with a 44-yard field goal from Paredes.
A blocked Jamieson Sheahen punt by Shaquille Richardson gave the Stampeders possession in Winnipeg’s end, but a two-and-out paved the way for Paredes’ 20th consecutive field goal, hitting from 43 yards out to give the home side a 6-3 lead after the first quarter.
The Blue Bombers evened it up early in the second on four consecutive rushes by Brady Oliviera, the CFL’s leading rusher, that totalled 46 yards.
That one-man rush propelled Winnipeg down the field, but again its drive fell short with Castillo hitting from 24 yards.
Calgary was inches away from re-taking the lead on their next possession, but Paredes’s 45-yard attempt hit the right upright. His first miss since July 7 at Winnipeg, kept the score 6-6 and ended his field-goal streak at 20.
UP NEXT — The Stampeders (3-7) head to Toronto on Friday to try and knock off the Argonauts (7-1) for a second time this season.
The Blue Bombers (8-2) return home where they’ll play host to Montreal (5-3) on Thursday.
