Jon Cornish eclipsed the 1,000-yard mark in rushing for the season as the Calgary Stampeders downed the Edmonton Eskimos 39-15 on Friday night at McMahon Stadium.
“The first half was very sloppy,” said Stampeders head coach and general manager John Hufnagel. “We had too many penalties in the half, which affected what we were able to do with the ball. I do believe we were able to take control of the football game on defence — they played well.”
Cornish ran for 180 yards — his fourth 150-yard game of the season — and bumped up his league-leading rushing total to 1,127 yards.
“Jon Cornish was a man possessed this evening,” said Hufnagel. “He was motivated to do something and he accomplished it. He had another great game for us. Our offensive line was patchwork when Edwin (Harrison) went down, so Spencer Wilson bounced out to left tackle and Obby Khan came into the game at guard and they both did a nice job.”
The Stamps (8-5) were also dangerous through the air as Kevin Glenn threw for 292 yards and two touchdowns while Joe West had six catches for 135 yards. Calgary accumulated 591 yards of offence while holding the Eskimos (5-8) to 242.
The Stamps have now won five of the past six games while the Eskimos have lost five games in a row, including three to Calgary.
After a scoreless opening quarter the Stamps got on the board early in the second period thanks to Cornish’s 73-yard touchdown run. That gave Calgary a lead it would never relinquish. Glenn hit Johnny Forzani on a 44-yard touchdown pass to double the Stamps’ lead.
>> Cornish’s touchdown
>> Forzani’s score
Edmonton scored their first points on an 18-yard touchdown pass from rookie quarterback Matt Nichols, who was making his first CFL start, to Fred Stamps.
Calgary’s Rene Paredes closed out the first-half scoring with field goals of 11 and 28 yards as Calgary went into the locker-room up 20-7.
After Edmonton picked up a point on a missed field goal, the Stamps picked up two on a safety when Kenny Pettway tackled Eskimos running back Hugh Charles in the end-zone. Then Paredes made it 25-8 with his third field goal of the evening, a 27-yarder.
Nichols scored on a 17-yard run to cut the Stamps’ lead to 25-15 after three quarters.
The Stamps iced the cake with a pair of touchdowns in the final quarter — Cornish scored on a one-yard run for his ninth rushing major of the season and Lewis caught a five-yard TD pass from Glenn.
For their next game, the Stampeders fly to Vancouver to tangle with the first-place BC Lions next Saturday. Game time is 8 p.m. MDT.