Second-year Stampeders quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell got his first CFL start in Winnipeg on Friday night.

Up to this point in the 2013 season, Mitchell has mainly been used in short yardage situations. In Week 4 at home against Montreal, he first saw significant playing time when he came in during the third quarter to relieve injured starter Kevin Glenn and finished out the game. He completed seven of 13 passes for 49 yards and two touchdowns, leading his team to a 38-27 victory over the Alouettes.

With Kevin Glenn still nursing an arm injury and original first-stringer Drew Tate deemed not ready to start after suffering a strained muscle in his forearm in Week 2, Mitchell got the call.

“Once you’re at this level of football that’s not really a part of it anymore,” says Mitchell when asked if nerves set in before the game. “You have that in high school, a little bit in college, but you know once you get here you’re here for a reason, so you just kind of go out there and do what you’ve been doing your whole life.”

The Texas native looked right at home, completing 29 of 33 passes for 376 yards and three touchdowns. He has yet to throw an interception this season.

“I’m happy but never satisfied,” he says. “Complacency is key. Just make sure that you’re never being complacent; you’re always working to get better. There was a lot of bad football tonight — penalties at the wrong times — and we’ve got to make sure we’re consistent more throughout the game.”

There were a lot of ‘firsts’ in Friday’s contest. Mitchell threw receiver Greg Carr his first reception and touchdown as a Stampeder and tossed a TD pass to third-year vet Anthony Parker for his first CFL touchdown. He also hooked up with Marquay McDaniel for his first receiving touchdown of 2013; he ran one in against the Riders in Week 2.

Mitchell also spread the ball around to 10 different receivers.

“I think that’s the biggest thing we did, is that we were able to move the ball around and big guys made some big plays,” he says.

The Stamps’ offence also managed to maintain possession for just over 38 minutes of the game; the Bombers’ offence had the ball for less than 22 minutes. Long drives wore the Bombers’ defence down.

“That’s a credit to the entire offence — O-line especially,” says the Eastern Washington product. “Jon Cornish making some huge runs really out of nothing, really making some guys miss, making some big plays.”

Improving the 4-1 on the season, Mitchell and his teammates can now enjoy their bye week before the Stamps host the Roughriders on Aug. 9.