Game Summary

The defending Grey Cup champion Calgary Stampeders and the newly formed Sacramento Gold Miners made CFL history last Saturday as they hooked up in the first ever CFL regular season game to be played between an American and a Canadian team on American soil. The game, witnessed by 20,082 enthusiastic Sacramento fans, was a shootout between the 1992 CFL Most Outstanding Player, Doug Flutie and Gold Miners’ QB David Archer, who combined, passed for almost 900 yards. The Gold Miners jumped into the lead following a Mark McLoughlin single, as Robert Hardy ran in from 1-yard out. Jim Crouch added the convert and then recored a single and then added a 27-yard FG to give the Miners’ a short-lived lead. McLoughlin closed the gap by booting a 20-yard FG to make the score 14-10 in favour of the Gold Miners at the end of the first-half. It was all Calgary in the third quarter as they got on the board early and appeared to be running away with the game as Allen Pitts was on the receiving end of a 37-yard pass from Flutie. Flutie then found Will Moore and Dave Sapunjis, who both ran into the end zone to give the Stamps a commanding 31-14 lead. However, the Gold Miners rebounded with Rod Harris catching a 13-yard TD pass from Archer with Crouch adding the convert to close the gap to 10 points after 3 quarters. Mike Oliphant opened up the fourth quarter scoring 8-yard TD and Willie Bouyer then hooked up with Archer for a 12-yard TD pass. Calgary regained the lead as Flutie ran in from 3-yards out, with the McLoughlin convert, the Stamps led 38-35 with 3:09 left to play. The Gold Miners had an opportunity to tie the game late in the game but a 40-yard FG attempt was wide and Sacramento’s comeback bid fell short giving the Stampeders a 38-36 victory.