CALGARY - Four different quarterbacks saw action and all four were effective as the Calgary Stampeders trounced the Edmonton Eskimos 39-14 in Canadian Football League exhibition action Friday night.
Henry Burris started things off by completing six-of-seven passes for 97 yards while rushing for a nine-yard touchdown before giving way to Dave Dickenson for the last play of the first quarter.
"For us at the quarterback position, we felt all four of us went out and threw the ball well, made good decisions, protected the ball and put us in scoring situations," Burris said. "We did some good things, but we've still got a lot of work to go to get ready for the regular season."
Dickenson made his return to the Stampeder lineup by tossing a 41-yard completion to Ken-Yon Rambo on the last play of the first quarter.
"We were only going to run that if we still had the wind," said Dickenson of the play that helped set up a three-yard touchdown run by Ken Simonton in the second quarter.
Dickenson finished the game with 93 yards as he completed all five of his passes.
Third-string Calgary quarterback Barrick Nealy scampered for an eight-yard score in the third to cap off an 11-play, 94-yard drive.
Ben Sankey, Calgary's fourth quarterback of the game, completed a 28-yard touchdown pass to Chris Jackson in the fourth quarter to put the Stamps up 39-0.
Edmonton's Tristan Jackson then broke the shutout when he scored on a 92 yard kick off return.
Edmonton running back A.J. Harris rounded out the scoring late in the fourth quarter when he caught a 14-yard touchdown pass from Tyler Donovan, Edmonton's third quarterback of the contest.
Edmonton head coach Danny Maciocia didn't put too much stock in the setback, noting that the coaching staff used the pre-season game to evaluate several players fighting for spots on the roster.
"We came down here and said we were going to evaluate and we left about three-quarters of our defensive line back home," he said.
While he acknowledged that Edmonton should field a more competitive squad in the regular season, the CFL veteran was pleased that the Calgary offence put up 39 points.
"They were missing a few guys obviously up front and in their linebacking core, so they'll be a bigger challenge down the road," Dickenson said. "Overall we kind of just did what we had to do. Our guys executed pretty well."
Calgary kicker Sandro DeAngelis chipped in with three field goals and a pair of singles in front of 20,219 fans at McMahon Stadium.
Stefan Lefors started at quarterback for the Eskimos and couldn't get anything going in the first half during which he completed just six of 14 passes for 60 yards, while rushing the ball three times for 34 yards.
With Jason Maas in at quarterback to start the second half, the Eskimos threatened to get on the scoreboard. Facing a third-and-three situation deep in Calgary territory, the Eskimos gambled and Maas tossed a short pass to a wide-open Clarence Moore only to see the receiver drop the ball to end the drive.
Notes: The Stamps will round out their exhibition schedule with a game in Vancouver against the B.C. Lions next Thursday, while the Eskimos host the Saskatchewan Roughriders in Edmonton on the same night. ... Among Edmonton's numerous scratches were quarterback Ricky Ray, receiver Kamau Peterson and defensive end Fred Perry.