Stampeders crush Argonauts in Grey Cup rematch; Ray stretchered off field

TORONTO — Bo Levi Mitchell and the Calgary Stampeders turned the Grey Cup rematch into a lopsided rout Saturday night.

Mitchell threw three touchdown passes as Calgary embarrassed Toronto 41-7 at BMO Field in the first meeting between the two teams since the Argonauts’ 27-24 Grey Cup win in November. Mitchell improved his career regular-season record against the Double Blue to 9-0 while guiding the Stampeders to their ninth consecutive regular-season victory over the defending CFL champions.

Toronto also lost starter Ricky Ray late in the third. After being sandwiched between two Stampeders defenders, Ray received on-field medical treatment before going on a backboard then a stretcher with his neck immobilized and leaving on a cart following roughly a 20-minute delay.

Ray, who could be seen moving his fingers, finished 12-of-17 passing for 74 yards. He was replaced by James Franklin, who scored Toronto’s lone TD on a 10-yard run at 9:11 of the fourth.

Mitchell improved his career regular-season record to 58-10-2 and is 27-3-2 versus East Division teams. Rookie running back Don Jackson also ran for 123 yards on nine carries while Eric Rogers registered five catches for 131 yards and two TDs.

Mitchell finished 20-of-22 passing for 324 yards with the three TDs before giving way to Nick Arbuckle in the fourth.

Calgary (2-0) also registered its sixth straight road win over Toronto (0-2). The Argos last beat the Stampeders on Sept. 21, 2013 and their last home victory against them came July 7, 2012.

Toronto opened a season with two straight losses for the first time since 2002. Ray lost his seventh straight start against the Stamps and dropped to 14-23 all-time against them before a home-opening crowd of 16,450, roughly 1,550 short of a sellout with the upper-east balcony closed.

After gaining just 69 first-half yards offensively, Toronto opened the second half turning the ball over on downs. Franklin was stopped on a third-and-one gamble at the Calgary 49-yard line.

Calgary responded with Mitchell’s 10-yard TD strike to Rogers at 5:33 to go ahead 27-1.

Arbuckle, DaVaris Daniels and Terry Williams, on a 102-yard punt return, had Calgary’s other TDs. Rene Paredes had five converts and two field goals, boosting his streak to 15 straight.

Ronnie Pfeffer added a single for Toronto.

Paredes’ 18-yard field goal at 14:32 of the second staked Calgary to a commanding 20-1 half-time advantage. Toronto’s defence had few answers for Mitchell and Co. while the Argos’ offence struggled to move the ball …read more

Source:: Sportsnet.ca – Sports news

      

Group of city leaders file complaint to stop $58 million Salt Lake County tax hike on ‘technicality’

SALT LAKE CITY — Several elected officials opposed to Salt Lake County’s $58 million sales tax hike for transportation projects aren’t letting the tax go into effect without a fight.

A handful of council members from Sandy, Riverton, Herriman, West Jordan and Copperton filed a complaint late Friday night with the Salt Lake County Clerk’s Office, alleging the tax hike didn’t technically get the support it needed in order for it to be enacted under the county’s ordinance.

Their argument: The Sandy City Councils didn’t pass a resolution in support of the tax, but only voted to send a letter of support.

“They approved that motion 4 to 3, but according to the Utah State code governing municipal procedure, that does not constitute a resolution,” states the complaint, obtained by the Deseret News Saturday.

Signatories of the complaint include Sandy City Councilwoman Maren Barker — who was the loudest critic against the tax hike when her City Council voted last week — as well as Copperton Township Council Vice Chairman Apollo Pazell, West Jordan City Councilman Zach Jacob, Riverton City Councilwoman Tawnee McCay, and Herriman council members Sherrie Ohrn and Jared Henderson.

“We may be trying to stop this on a technicality,” Pazell said Saturday. “What wasn’t a technicality is the fact that voters voted ‘no’ to this tax in 2015.”

The 0.25 percent tax hike, which was on the ballot three years ago as Proposition 1 but failed 51 percent to 49 percent, would raise taxes by an additional penny for every $4 spent beginning in October.

Thanks to SB136, the sweeping transportation bill passed by the Utah Legislature this year, counties were given the power to resurrect the tax. In April, the Salt Lake County Council approved an ordinance allowing the tax to automatically take effect if enough cities or towns representing 67 percent of the county’s 1.1 million residents adopted resolutions in support of the tax before June 22.

Last week, Sandy and Draper joined more than a dozen other cities or townships that signaled support of the tax hike, surpassing the 67 percent requirement.

But Jacob hopes the group’s complaint will block the tax hike, even if it is on a “technicality.”

“The voters already said ‘no’ to it,” he said. “If it’s a technicality that does it, then OK.”

But it’s not clear whether the complaint will have any impact on the tax hike.

County Council Chairwoman Aimee Winder Newton wrote in an email to Pazell …read more

Source:: Deseret News – Utah News