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CALGARY – The Calgary Stampeders stay in the CFL playoff conversation, thanks to a long field goal from Rene Paredes, while the Ottawa Redblacks remain winless after Calgary’s 40-38 win over Ottawa on Saturday.
Paredes kicked a 62-yard field goal, the longest of his career, with two seconds left to end a tug-of-war between two football teams desperate for different reasons.
The Stampeders (6-8) are mathematically out of playoff contention at the bottom of the West Division, but their margin is slim with four games remaining in the regular season. They trail the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and BC Lions, who are third in the division, by two points.
“What a game,” said Paredes, the longest-serving Stampeder in his 15th season and who has missed 10 games this season due to injury. “I’m happy we got the win and we still have a chance to make the playoffs.
“Hopefully this motivates us to keep going. We know every game from now on is a playoff game for us.”
The Redblacks fell 0-13 to become the second team to start a season with 13 consecutive losses after the Shreveport Pirates in 1994.
Redblacks quarterback McLeod Bethel-Thompson threw five touchdown passes in his first start for Ottawa, which lost its second straight game on an opponent’s field goal.
Bethel-Thompson quoted Sisyphus from Greek mythology to describe the team’s plight — pushing a boulder up a hill only to have it roll back down every time it neared the top.
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“Does anyone know the story of Sisyphus?” asked the 38-year-old quarterback. “It can’t be said any other way, right? We’re right at the top. Let’s just say you’re moving a rock from the top, to the bottom, it’s rolling, so that’s going to challenge us.
“Take this lesson, accept this adversity, and don’t fight against each other, and don’t fight against yourself, and come out of this stronger.”
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The Redblacks host the Stampeders on Saturday in their second home-and-home game.
Ottawa took a one-point lead with 72 seconds remaining. Calgary’s offense reached Ottawa’s 45-yard line, but quarterback Vernon Adams Jr. penalized for throwing to an ineligible receiver for a 10-yard drop.
The missed throw to receiver Tevin Jones left the game at the feet of the 41-year-old Paredes, who had earlier hit a 57-yarder, but said he would have missed if not for the tailwind.
Paredes had another breeze behind him. He drilled the ball past the upright.
“When I walked off the field, I said, ‘I’m sure he’s going to make it,’” Adams said. “I said ‘God, give us some wind,’ he did, and that’s what happened, so I just believed it.”
According to the 2026 CFL record book, the longest field goal made in the CFL was 63 yards, by Saskatchewan’s Paul McCallum (2001) and Winnipeg’s Sergio Castillo (2025).
When Paredes threw his helmet in celebration, the helmet at his quarterback’s feet nearly cracked. Adams was already hobbled after the offensive lineman rolled on his ankle in the third quarter.
“Not sure Rene has 62 on his feet,” said Stampeders head coach and general manager Dave Dickenson. “We needed it. It was desperation mode. Obviously we didn’t play perfect football or anything like that, but we really needed that win and we got it.”
Calgary’s Quincy Vaughn scored a pair of short-yardage rushing touchdowns and Jones and Jalen Philpot each caught a touchdown pass from Adams, who finished 28 for 41 on 357 yards passing attempts. He was intercepted for the fifth time in as many games after keeping clean sheets in his first eight games.
Paredes also made field goals of 23 and 19 yards, plus four conversion points, in front of an announced crowd of 20,113 at McMahon Stadium.
Bethel-Thompson, who came off the bench for a five-point drive in the previous week’s 26-23 loss to Toronto, amassed 379 passing yards and was picked off once.
Keelan White caught three of his touchdown passes and Justin Hardy and Kalil Pimpleton the other two. Kicker Brett Lauther missed a 43-yard field-goal attempt, but was good from 37 yards and added a five-point conversion.
“We feel like a win has been coming for a few weeks,” Redblacks head coach and GM Ryan Dinwiddie said. “Guys are fighting. I don’t think they’re stopping. I don’t think they’re stopping all year. Now are we making the plays we need to make? No.
“You haven’t got a win at this stage, I’m surprised we didn’t have a massive dressing room brawl, so the guys stuck together and I appreciate that.”
The Stampeders were minus top player Dedrick Mills (hip). Deonta McMahon came off Calgary’s practice roster for the game and rushed for 102 yards.
Calgary led 17-14 at halftime. The temperature at kickoff was C 22 with wind speeds of up to 44 km/h.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2026.
© 2026 Canadian Press
