In the city’s first professional game since the devastating floods last week, the Calgary Stampeders marched over the visiting BC Lions 44-32 in the 2013 regular-season opener Friday night at McMahon Stadium.

Stamps running back Jon Cornish turned in the 11th-highest single-game rushing total in Stamps history — racking up 172 yards — and scored two touchdowns. It was the fifth time in the past 14 regular-season games he has run for more than 150 yards.

“Our offensive line. No. 1, did an extremely good job,” said Stampeders head coach and general manager John Hufnagel. “And the receivers. We were able to move the line of scrimmage a bit and open some holes up for Jon and he ran very hard, showed excellent quickness, excellent cutting ability, secured the football. He did everything you want your running back to do.”

Other big performers for Calgary were Joe West (two receiving touchdowns), Drew Tate (237 passing yards and three TDs), Charleston Hughes (three sacks), Jonathan Hefney (10 tackles) and the offensive line (200 rushing yards and zero sacks allowed).

Calgary roared out to a 16-0 lead after one quarter, including a touchdown on the first possession of the game. On the opening drive, Cornish fought for 45 rushing yards on five carries, helping to move the Stamps deep into the Leos territory. Tate capped things off with a 12-yard pass completion to Maurice Price at the back of the end-zone.

“it’s always nice to get the opening kickoff, take the ball and be able to march the length of the field and put the ball in the end-zone,” said Hufnagel. “I thought we played exteremely well in the first half. Defensively, there were a lot of two and outs where we forced them to punt and we had field position for the most part of the first half and we were able to take advantage of it.

“Our kick coverage was excellent and that helped pin them don for the majority of the first half.”

Calgary expanded their lead a few minutes later, taking advantage of a Travis Lulay fumble deep in his own zone. After Cornish picked up 20 yards on a catch-and-run, Tate threw his second major, this one of 12 yards to West.

Another Lions miscue three plays later led to more points for the Red and White. Long-snapper Tim Cronk launched the ball over punter Hugh O’Neill’s head, forcing O’Neill to kick it out of his own end-zone for a safety.

By the end of the first quarter, Calgary was up 16-0 on the scoreboard and 146-24 in offensive yards.

The teams traded turnovers to start the second quarter before BC was able to get on the board. On the first play after a Stamps receiver Nik Lewis fumble, Lulay connected with Emmanuel Arceneaux on a 53-yard touchdown pass. However, O’Neill ended up short on the point-after.

The Stamps’ offensive dominance continued, with Cornish capping off a short drive with a touchdown plunge from the one-yard line for a 23-6 lead.

After the Stamps defence forced another two-and-out, returner Larry Taylor found the seam and took it deep into the Lions territory. Coupled with a horse collar penalty, Calgary took over on the 14-yard line. It didn’t take Tate long to capitalize as he found West for his third touchdown pass of the night.

After 30 minutes, the Stamps led 31-6.

BC came to life early in the second half, as Lulay led an 82-yard drive that ended with a 17-yard touchdown pass to Courtney Taylor.

Just 52 seconds later, a Tate pass was intercepted by Cord Parks and returned 45 yards to the end-zone to bring BC within 10 points.

That was as close as BC would get. A few drives later, Cornish again took over the game with his legs, earning his second touchdown of the night with an 11-yard dash.

Calgary would take the 38-21 lead into the final quarter.

O’Neill notched his first field goal of the night, booting it through from the 40-yard-line. Stamps kicker Rene Paredes wasn’t going to be outdone though as he connected from 39 yards and 27 yards.

Shawn Gore scored a touchdown in the dying seconds and Nick Moore added a two-point convert to bring the Lions within 12 points.

Calgary now heads on the road for the next two weeks, starting in Regina next Friday when they take on the Roughriders on Friday night.