The Calgary Stampeders have picked up right where they left off before the bye week as they defeated the BC Lions 48-35 at Vancouver’s Empire Field on Friday.

The win is the Stampeders’ fifth in a row as West Division-leading Calgary improves to 7-1. Meanwhile, the Lions (1-7) have dropped seven games in a row and have lost eight straight regular-season games against the Stampeders over the past three years.

Calgary’s offence has put up 104 points in the past two games but Stamps head coach and general manager John Hufnagel is still concerned about some aspects of the team’s overall play.

“I think all three phases of the game played well tonight and I also think all three phases of the game had its problems,” he said. “Our (kick-return) coverage team wasn’t what I expected, there were too many big plays against our defence and too many turnovers by the offence.

“(But) we’re 7-1 and we have the makings to be a very good football team. We need to continue to try and clean some things up.”

It was a very eventful first half as the Stampeders took a 27-20 lead into the locker-room.

Calgary got on the board first as Henry Burris ran the ball in from nine yards out. The score was set up by Stampeders long snapper Randy Chevrier’s recovery of Yonus Davis’ mishandle of a missed field goal.

The Lions replied with their own major as Casey Printers scored on a third-and-goal gamble from the Calgary one-yard line. That touchdown was preceded by a 44-yard completion from Printers to Emmanuel Arceneaux.

After Paul McCallum’s 33-yard field goal had given the Lions a 10-7 lead, the Stamps went back ahead thanks to a 48-yard connection between Burris and Deon Murphy.

The Stamps added 10 points to their lead in the second quarter thanks to Rob Maver’s 11-yard field goal and Burris’ 20-yard touchdown pass to Ken-Yon Rambo.

Back came BC with 10 points of its own — a 40-yard McCallum field goal and a one-yard touchdown run by Jamal Robertson.

Maver booted a 37-yard field goal on the final play on the half to push the Stamps’ cushion to seven points.

Rambo made six catches in the first half, the fifth of which gave the speedy receiver 300 for his career.

Calgary provided the only scoring of the third quarter as Arjei Franklin found the end-zone on a four-yard end-around play. The score was set up by Jon Cornish’s third running play for 50 or more yards this season.

Backup quarterback and short-yardage specialist Drew Tate extended the Stamps’ lead to 41-20 when he scored on a one-yard keeper in the fourth period. Tate stayed in the game the following drive and hooked up with Rambo for another score.

The Lions applied some cosmetic touches in the late going with touchdowns by Emmanuel Arceneaux and Grey Simon.

The Stamps’ next game action is the Labour Day Classic at McMahon Stadium on Sept. 6.

STATISTICS

PASSING
Cgy: Burris 20-34-276-2-3, Tate 1-1-19-1-0; BC: Printers 10-26-191-1-0, Lulay 3-5-56-1-0

RUSHING
Cgy: Reynolds 12-94, Cornish 6-70, Burris 3-34-1, Cote 3-11, Franklin 1-4-1, Tate 2-2-1, Clark 1-0; BC: Davis 6-17, Lulay 2-13, Robertson 3-7-1, Printers 3-7-1, Messam 1-0

RECEIVING
Cgy: Rambo 9-108-2, Murphy 2-56-1, Cornish 2-34, Franklin 2-34, Lewis 2-25, Reynolds 3-23, Cote 1-15; BC: Arceneaux 6-154-1, Simon 5-81-1, Robertson 1-8, P.Jackson 1-4

NOTABLES
Cgy: Jackson 2 TKL 2 STT 1 SK 1 KD, Claybrooks 2 TKL 1 SK 1 KD, McCune 4 TKL 1 SK, Simpson 4 STT, Chevrier 1 FR; BC: Franks 5 TKL 2 INT, Marsh 7 TKL 1 INT, Elimimian 6 TKL 1 STT, Davis 7-180 KOR 6-36 PR