Stampeders run away from Lions

The Calgary Stampeders left BC Place quiet as a mausoleum on Friday night, drubbing the Lions all night long in a 48-10 rout.

Henry Burris tossed three short touchdown passes and Joffrey Reynolds rushed for two scores as the defending Grey Cup champions moved back to .500 after beginning the season with two defeats. The Stampeders have now amassed 149 points, just five behind undefeated Montreal.

"That was huge," said Burris. "For us to come out and have a total team effort, especially in a tough environment, it was one of the most critical games for us."

Jeremaine Copeland hauled in two of the Burris touchdown throws, with Jermaine Jackson the other recipient. Sandro De Angelis contributed four field goals.

"You don't expect anything to be like that," said Copeland. "We expected the game to go down to the fourth quarter."

The Stampeders did lose the services of Ken-Yon Rambo, the CFL's leading receiver in 2008, to a knee injury in the second quarter. Rambo will have an MRI on Monday.

B.C. (1-3) committed four turnovers to fall to the basement of the CFL West. Jarious Jackson replaced Buck Pierce at quarterback for the second straight time, but unlike last week did not have any magic coming off the bench.

Jackson did score the team's only touchdown on a short run to put the team up 7-4 early, a drive that actually came with Pierce at the helm. He didn't mince words after the loss.

"Plain and simple, they kicked our ass tonight," he said. "There was no excuses.

"We were in the game at the beginning. I think we had a couple of turnovers that kind of set us back. Once they took the reins it was pretty much over."

The visitors soon took over, scoring 34 points in the middle two quarters.

Rambo accounted for 45 yards on two catches as Calgary reached the end zone for the first time early in the second. Burris found Copeland on a five-yard scoring play to cap the drive.

Brandon Browner of the Stampeders intercepted Pierce later in the frame. While it didn't immediately lead to a score, it helped Calgary win the field position battle.

"The best part about it was we took care of the ball," Burris said. "We didn't do anything to give them life. When we got the turnovers on defence, we were able to put sevens on the board. That helped take the life out of them."

Burris would strike to Jackson for a five-yard score and also lead Calgary to a De Angelis field goal as the Stamps controlled the clock for 10 of 15 minutes in the second. They led 21-7 at the half.

The hits kept coming for the Lions in the third. A botched snap was recovered on their own seven-yard line by Odell Willis of the Stampeders, who had two of four Calgary sacks in the game.

With the prime field position, Burris and Copeland connected for a touchdown.

Copeland appeared to be denied an acrobatic touchdown catch later in the quarter by the officials, with the Stamps settling for another De Angelis field goal.

Calgary was unbowed, however, hitting pay dirt again five minutes later when Reynolds grabbed two of his 131 rushing yards with a score.

The Lions were unglued midway through the fourth, committing two major fouls on defence to abet another Reynolds rushing touchdown. The drive came with Barrick Nealy at quarterback as Burris was rewarded with early rest.

Calgary has now won five straight regular-season and playoff games against the Lions.