Calgary Stampeders' Joe West celebrates his touchdown with Maurice Price during first half CFL action at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton, on Friday, Nov. 2, 2012.Ian Jackson/The Canadian Press
Rene Paredes kicked a 44-yard field goal on the final play of the game as the Calgary Stampeders earned a 30-27 victory over the Edmonton Eskimos on Friday night.
There was a strange finish to the contest.
The Eskimos had a chance to take the lead with 1:24 remaining in the fourth on a 38-yard Grant Shaw field-goal attempt, but the snap was bobbled and the kick was into the backs of his linemen.
Edmonton looked to have gotten the ball back on the next play on a TJ Hill interception but the play was called back on a roughing the passer call.
The absurdity continued as Joe West looked to have had a big catch deep in Edmonton territory with one minute left, but the ball was punched out of his hands and returned to Calgary's 19-yard line by Weldon Brown.
However, the play was called back as it was ruled the pass was incomplete.
Paredes went out to kick the field goal on the final play of the game and was wide, but the Eskimos had called a timeout and he got a chance to successfully kick it over.
The Stampeders will now face the Saskatchewan Roughriders in next weekend's West Division semifinal. With the loss, the Eskimos will now crossover to the East Division and take on the Toronto Argonauts in the East semi.
It was the fourth consecutive win for the Stampeders, who also won all four of their games against Edmonton this season, to finish with a 12-6 record.
The Eskimos have now lost three in a row and finished the regular season at 7-11.
The game was also saw each team break CFL records.
Calgary running back Jon Cornish got the 50 yards rushing he needed to capture the record for most yards in a season by a Canadian. His 14 carries for 69 yards broke a 56-year-old record set by former Eskimo Normie Kwong's 1,437 yards.
Eskimos linebacker J.C. Sherritt made his 11th tackle of the game with 39 seconds left to set a new league record for all-time single season tackles, surpassing Calvin Tiggle's previous mark of 129 in 1994.
Calgary had a strong start to the game, scoring just two minutes into their opening drive. Backup quarterback Drew Tate found West with an 11-yard touchdown pass to give the Stampeders an early 7-0 lead.
Edmonton responded with a 42-yard Shaw field goal with five minutes to play in the first.
The Stamps went up 14-3 a couple of minutes later as a 40-yard reception by Maurice Price set up a nine-yard quarterback draw into the end zone by Tate.
Calgary added to their lead with a pair of Paredes field goals early in the second quarter.
Edmonton finally gained some ground with five minutes to play in the second quarter as quarterback Matt Nichols, who got the start with Kerry Joseph banged up, hit Fred Stamps for a 30-yard TD pass to make it 20-10. It was Stamps' ninth TD of the season, a personal best.
The Eskimos continued to come back and closed to within three points with 52 seconds left in the opening half as Nichols threw a 48-yard bomb to Cary Koch in the end zone. It was Nichols' seventh TD pass this season in limited duty, one more than Steven Jyles had in half a season as a starter for Edmonton.
Kevin Glenn came in to quarterback the Stampeders to start the second half and padded their lead with four minutes to play in the third as he threw a 57-yard TD pass to Price for a 27-17 Calgary advantage.
Edmonton responded quickly with a TD strike of their own with one minute left in the third as running back Cory Boyd blazed 21 yards to score and cut the Calgary lead back to three points heading into the fourth.
The Eskimos caught a big break early in the fourth as defender Brandon Lang stripped and recovered the football with Calgary pressing on the Edmonton nine-yard line. Edmonton was able to get a Shaw field goal out of the turnover to tie the game 27-27.
Notes: It was the fourth and final meeting of the season between the Alberta rivals. Calgary won the three previous games by a combined score of 90-63 and swept the Labour Day home-and-away series in two close games, in which Shaw missed last-second field goals that could have won his team the game both times. ... The Stamps came into the game with the CFL lead in points scored with 505, while Edmonton was at the bottom of the West Division with just 395 points scored. ... Cornish had rushed for 436 yards in the three previous Stampeder victories over Edmonton this season. ... With second place in the West secured, the Stampeders rested slotback Nik Lewis, who leads the CFL with 100 receptions this season. They also sat our receiver Anthony Parker. The Stamps also used the free game to give Tate his first start since Week 2. ... Eskimos defensive back Rod Williams was out with a concussion. Pete Ittersagen took his place, making his CFL debut. The Eskimos had defensive lineman Marcus Howard back after missing 13 games with hamstring problems.