At first, Maurice Price was surprised to discover his touchdown catch-and-run against the Montreal Alouettes on Saturday covered more than 100 yards.

Then he replayed the sequence in his mind.

“Thinking about it,” said the speedy Stampeders wide receiver, “I was running for a long time.”

Between quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell’s downfield heave and Price’s sprint to paydirt, the play officially covered 102 yards.

With the ball scrimmaged at the Calgary eight-yard-line, Mitchell actually dropped a yard or two back into the end-zone before unloading. The ball travelled more than 50 yards in the air before dropping gently into Price’s hands at the Calgary 51.

With two Montreal defenders vainly trying to give chase, Price dashed downfield for a very memorable first touchdown of the Stampeders season.

It was the longest pass play in Stamps history since Jeff Garcia and Terry Vaughn hooked up for a 104-yarder on June 23, 1996 — 18 years and five days ago.

Coincidentally, Mitchell worked out with Garcia during the off-season and the current Stamps quarterback joked on Twitter that he regretted not being able to outdo his off-season mentor.

“We should have backed it up!” he tweeted.

As it is, the Bo-to-Mo connection stands as the sixth longest passing play in Stamps history and one of only three 100-yard-plus air strikes since 1980. The other two long bombs in the past 34 years feature some pretty prominent names in Stamps history — Doug Flutie to Pee Wee Smith for 106 yards in 1994 and Henry Burris to Ken-Yon Rambo for 100 yards in 2010.

The Mitchell-Price partnership represents the longest pass play in the CFL since Edmonton’s Ricky Ray hooked up with Jason Tucker for a 105-yarder in 2005.

First impressions

A half-dozen Stamps got their first official taste of CFL action on Saturday

Offensive linemen Brander Craighead and Pierre Lavertu, defensive linemen DeQuin Evans and Quinn Smith, defensive back Buddy Jackson and quarterback Bryant Moniz have all seen pre-season action for the Red and White, but Saturday’s contest was the first time each had been in uniform when the teams were playing for keeps.

Moniz, the No. 3 quarterback, did not see the field but the other five CFL rookies all contributed to the Stamps’ 29-8 win over the Alouettes.

Craighead, the starting left guard, and Lavertu, who started the day as the backup and saw playing time in the second half, contributed to a line effort that allowed the Stamps to rush for 116 yards and allowed just one sack.

Meanwhile, the Calgary defensive line harassed Larks pivot Troy Smith all afternoon and recorded four sacks including one by Evans in the former National Football Leaguer’s CFL debut.

Evans and Smith were two of the defensive tackles who played a key role in limiting the Alouettes to just 60 rushing yards for the entire game.

Meanwhile, Jackson — who joined the Stamps’ practice roster in October of 2013 — had three tackles and a knockdown in his first CFL game action.

Fred plucks Larks again

When last we saw Fred Bennett face the Alouettes at McMahon Stadium — July 20, 2013 — he turned in what was arguably the biggest play of the season as his hustle and well-timed punchout created a fumble that helped Calgary record a comeback victory.

Bennett tormented the Alouettes again on Saturday, although only part of his work is visible on the scoresheet. Officially, the third-year cornerback had one interception but Bennett had a second pick wiped out by a penalty.

While it didn’t count, Bennett turned in a sensational effort on the second interception as he lunged at his own 50-yard line to snag a ball intended for Kenny Stafford. Bennett headed down the near sideline, put on the brakes and rolled all the way across the field, nimbly avoiding an attempted tackle by Alouettes quarterback Troy Smith.

Bennett made it all the way to the Montreal six-yard line before finally being forced out of bounds. The flag — an unnecessary roughness call for contact on Smith after the ball had been released — meant that the effort was for naught except for the praise he drew from his teammates for his athletic ability.

Bennett spent part of the day covering former NFL star Chad Johnson, who was held to two catches for 20 yards.

Rude hosts

Saturday’s win was the fifth in a row by the Stampeders against the Alouettes at McMahon Stadium. The Larks haven’t win in Calgary since July 1, 2009.

That’s part of a pattern of dominance by the Stamps against East teams since John Hufnagel took over in 2008. Calgary is 21-4 against East teams during that period.

By comparison, the Stamps are 14-10 when visiting East Division clubs since the start of the 2008 campaign.