The Calgary Stampeders opened the 2011 Canadian Football pre-season schedule with a 24-0 loss to the BC Lions on Wednesday night at McMahon Stadium.
On a cool and wet night, the Stamps managed just 153 yards of total offence but neither the weather nor the early pre-season status of the contest excused Calgary’s performance in the eyes of head coach and general manager John Hufnagel.
“I don’t think you could ever classify something like that as. ‘Just the pre-season.’ I am concerned but I do think there are players in that locker-room that will respond,” said Hufnagel.
Despite the setback, the boss did see some positives on the evening.
“Except for the one drive in the first half,” he said, “I thought our defence played well. They hung in there but they were on the field way too much tonight. Demetrice Morley had an excellent game, Torrey Davis showed me something, Junior Turner showed me something and Akwasi (Antwi) showed me something. So there were some positives from tonight.”
The Lions put up 178 passing yards in building a 10-0 halftime advantage.
BC opened the scoring in the first quarter on a five-play, 65-yard drive, with the march was capped by a 16-yard pass from Travis Lulay to Steven Black.
In the first minute of the second quarter, the visitors extended their advantage to 10 points thanks to a 22-yard Paul McCallum field goal.
The Stamps’ Rob Maver had a pair of 48-yard field-goal attempts in the opening half but was unable to connect on either one.
Morley was one of Calgary’s standout performers in the opening half as he made a couple of interceptions from the safety position and very nearly had a third. Eric Fraser also had a pick for the home side.
In addition, Sam Scott had two sacks for the Stamps while Khari Long had one.
Henry Burris played the first quarter and completed three of eight passes for 17 yards before giving way to Drew Tate, who completed five of 11 passes in the second period. Deon Murphy, Johnny Forzani and Romby Bryant had two first-half catches apiece.
“Normally we’re a team that executes a lot better than that,” said Burris. “As they say, each year the script usually changes. We have a challenge on our hands. With all the playmakers that we have on offence and all the leaders that we have, we’ve got to step it up. It starts with practice on Friday.”
The Lions made it 17-0 in the third quarter when they quickly converted a turnover into a 10-yard touchdown pass from Jarious Jackson to Kamau Peterson.
BC put up another touchdown later in the third period and made the score 24-0 when Mike Reilly, the third BC quarterback on the night, found Nick Moore in the end-zone from 15 yards out.
Th Stamps’ second and final pre-season contest will be played in Edmonton next Friday.
INDIVIDUAL STATS
PASSING
Cgy: Burris 3-8-17-0-0, Tate 7-14-55-0-0, Gachette 1-3-(-3)-0-0, Sinopoli 5-11-33-0-0; BC: Lulay 8-13-114-1-1, Jackson 4-16-83-1-1, Reilly 3-7-22-1-0, Leonard 0-6-0-0-1
RUSHING
Cgy: Gachette 2-22, Coker 5-20, Reynolds 1-19, Little 3-12, Mitchell 1-11, Tate 2-2, Cornish 2-(-1); BC: Smith 4-27, Reilly 1-13, Brown 3-11, Robertson 3-10, Lulay 1-9, Leonard 2-8
RECEIVING
Cgy: Murphy 2-19, Forzani 3-18, Parker 2-13, Guice 2-12, McNeal 1-10, Allen 1-9, Lewis 1-9, Bryant 2-8, Collins 1-7, Coker 1-(-3); BC: Gore 3-62, Simon 3-58, Robertson 2-32, Black 2-27-1, Moore 1-15-1, Johnson 1-12, Peterson 1-10-1, Collins 1-8, Brown 1-(-5)
NOTABLES
Cgy: Morley 1 TKL 2 INT 1 KD, Brown 3 TKL, Scott 2 TKL 2 STT 2 SK Fraser 1 STT 1 INT 1 KD Long 1 TKL 1 SK; BC: Reddick 7 TKL 1 SK 1 FF, Hyland 4 TKL, Yurichuk 1 TKL 3 STT 1 SK, Arakgi 1 STT 1 FF