Talk about hitting the ground running.

After spending three games sidelined with a lower-body injury, Ka’Deem Carey rushed for 143 yards during the Red & White’s 25-9 Labour Day Classic victory over the Edmonton Eskimos Monday, in front of 32,350 roaring Stampeders fans.

Clearly, there was no rust.

“It feels special man,” Carey said following his first taste of Labour Day football in Calgary.

“All I can say is God is good.

“The fans were awesome, it was beautiful out there. It was the organization’s eighth-straight Labour Day Classic win, to put that together in front of our beautiful crowd truly was special.”

Making the day even more special, Monday’s performance marked the first time he rushed for 100 yards in the CFL.

“It’s a big accomplishment, me and the offensive line talked about going over 100 all week,” he said. “We locked in on it, we focused in on the run game and the small blocks and I just read them today. And the offensive line welcomed me back good with the holes they made for me.

“Me and the offensive line are going to celebrate this one – shout out to them.”

Carey wasn’t the lone highlight for the Red & White, with the defence standing tall, special teams answering the bell, and the entire offence executing.

Quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell, who returned after missing seven games due to injury, threw for 263 yards in the victory, more than half of them to Reggie Begelton, who made with 10 catches for 138 yards, one major and a two-point convert.

“It’s too fun, I’ve been dreaming about this since the beginning of the year,” Carey said.

“Going out there with Reggie and Bo and just knowing what we can do.

“We are an unstoppable combo, and our offensive line protects like there’s no tomorrow and they’re going to show it from now on.”

That’s the attitude you’d want from a CFL team halfway through the season.

And now that autumn is upon us, it’s time for the 6-4 Stampeders to make a real push – something Carey is confident they can do moving forward.

“It was a big one for us,” Carey said. “Because I know that we know we are the best team in the conference and in the league. For us to go out there and put it on film, on tape, and go out there and play the way we know we can play is something big for us.”

With Monday’s season-series clinching victory, the Stamps moved into third place in the CFL’s Western Conference.

They’ll face Edmonton one last time in the regular season this Saturday for the LDC rematch.

“It’s easy to prepare for them because we spent all this week preparing for them,” Carey said. “We just have to tune up some things, change our game plan a little bit, and get a good push on them cats.”

“We’re all confident as a team, we feel good as a team. We’re just going to keep it rolling that’s the biggest goal.

“We caught on fire and we’re just going to keep it burning.”