He has complied thirteen years with one team and 139 touchdowns all with the blue and gold. And on Friday night, in front of a sold out crowd at CanadInn stadium, the players and fans of the Blue Bombers celebrated excellence as Milt Stegall set a new CFL record for touchdowns.
Passing such legendary CFL names as Mike Pringle and George Reed, Stegall made the record his own in the second quarter of play, off of a Kevin Glenn shovel pass on the one yard line. It was a long awaited achievement for the Blue and Gold and their fans, an opportunity to finally break loose and celebrate a great success that was only a matter of time.
And as would be expected, he was involved in much of the play leading up to it. Stegall had carried most of the freight on the record setting touchdown drive, involved in four of the six plays for most of the yardage, capping it with the one yard toss to cross the goal line.
Once Stegall broke that goal line, the sold out crowd, the third consecutive sell out at CanadInn stadium this year broke out in a thunderous chant of the name of the Bombers star, the game suspended play for five minutes while Stegall basked in the accolades of the crowd as TSN’s Brian Williams handled the on field salutations. Classy as ever, the new record holder first thanked Ti Cat head coach Charlie Taaffe and the Tiger Cats for allowing the interruption to the game, from there he thanked all the usual characters, from God through his family and on to CFL fans across the country and of course the faithful of CanadInn stadium who have been on the journey with him for thirteen years now.
Milt Stegall arrived in the CFL in 1995, after three seasons with Cincinnati and a cup of coffee with the Green Bay Packers of the NFL. Originally on the Tiger Cat negotiation list prior to 95, they dropped his name when they thought the chances of his moving north had come and gone. As events would turn out, unfortunately for the Black and Yellow they were a little premature and the Bombers snapped up his rights, the rest as they say is history.
For good measure on Friday night, the Bomber receiver picked up another touchdown with less than two minutes go, makring number 139 in the record book and putting some distance between him and the previous record holders.
139, it’s the new CFL benchmark. It means a new entry for the CFL record books, a new record that will list a name of Stegall for quite a few years.
Passing such legendary CFL names as Mike Pringle and George Reed, Stegall made the record his own in the second quarter of play, off of a Kevin Glenn shovel pass on the one yard line. It was a long awaited achievement for the Blue and Gold and their fans, an opportunity to finally break loose and celebrate a great success that was only a matter of time.
And as would be expected, he was involved in much of the play leading up to it. Stegall had carried most of the freight on the record setting touchdown drive, involved in four of the six plays for most of the yardage, capping it with the one yard toss to cross the goal line.
Once Stegall broke that goal line, the sold out crowd, the third consecutive sell out at CanadInn stadium this year broke out in a thunderous chant of the name of the Bombers star, the game suspended play for five minutes while Stegall basked in the accolades of the crowd as TSN’s Brian Williams handled the on field salutations. Classy as ever, the new record holder first thanked Ti Cat head coach Charlie Taaffe and the Tiger Cats for allowing the interruption to the game, from there he thanked all the usual characters, from God through his family and on to CFL fans across the country and of course the faithful of CanadInn stadium who have been on the journey with him for thirteen years now.
Milt Stegall arrived in the CFL in 1995, after three seasons with Cincinnati and a cup of coffee with the Green Bay Packers of the NFL. Originally on the Tiger Cat negotiation list prior to 95, they dropped his name when they thought the chances of his moving north had come and gone. As events would turn out, unfortunately for the Black and Yellow they were a little premature and the Bombers snapped up his rights, the rest as they say is history.
For good measure on Friday night, the Bomber receiver picked up another touchdown with less than two minutes go, makring number 139 in the record book and putting some distance between him and the previous record holders.
139, it’s the new CFL benchmark. It means a new entry for the CFL record books, a new record that will list a name of Stegall for quite a few years.
(Above picture can be found at the Globe and Mail website)
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