TORONTO — Montreal’s Anthony Calvillo and Calgary’s Henry Burris have been rewarded for leading their teams to CFL regular-season division titles.
The veteran quarterbacks were named division all-stars Wednesday in voting conducted by the Football Reporters of Canada, eight CFL head coaches and fans.
Burris, who threw a league-high 38 TD passes, guided the Stampeders to a CFL-best 13-5 record and top spot in the West Division. He finished second in the CFL in passing with 4,945 yards and was among 13 Stampeders players to be named to the West Division squad.
Other Stamps on the offensive team are running back Joffrey Reynolds, receivers Romby Bryant and Nik Lewis, tackle Fred Archibald and Dmitri Tsoumpas.
Named to the defensive team were tackles Devone Claybrooks and Tom Johnson, end Charleston Hughes, linebacker Juwan Simpson, cornerbacks Dwight Anderson and Brandon Browner as well as punter Burke Dales.
Calvillo finished fourth among CFL passers with 4,839 yards and 32 touchdown as the Alouettes finished atop the East with a 12-6 record. But his most impressive stat was throwing just seven interceptions among his 562 passing attempts.
Calvillo has plenty of company on the East Division squad. Other Als named were receiver Jamel Richardson, tackle Josh Bourke and guard Scott Flory.
Montreal’s defensive all-stars include end John Bowman, linebacker Chip Cox, defensive back Jerald Brown and cornerback Mark Estelle while Damon Duval was named the all-star kicker.
Special teams star Chad Owens, the CFL leader in punt, kickoff and missed field goal return yards, highlighted the seven Argos selected to the Eastern squad.
The others named were tailback Cory Boyd, tackle Rob Murphy, defensive tackle Kevin Huntley, linebacker Kevin Eiben, defensive back Lin-J Shell and safety Willie Pile.
Surprisingly, the second-place Hamilton Tiger-Cats only placed four players on the team. Receiver Arland Bruce III got the nod, along with slotback Dave Stala, centre Marwan Hage and linebacker Markeith Knowlton.
CFL rushing leader Fred Reid was among seven Winnipeg Blue Bombers named. Joining him are guard Brendon LaBatte, receiver Terrence Edwards, defensive tackle Doug Brown, defensive end Phillip Hunt, cornerback Jovon Johnson and punter Mike Renaud.
Canadian slotback Andy Fantuz, who led the CFL in receiving, was among six Saskatchewan Roughriders named to the West Division team. The others included tailback Wes Cates, tackle Gene Makowsky, centre Jeremy O’Day, linebacker Barrin Simpson and safety James Patrick.
Half of the B.C. Lions six all-stars were on defence: end Brent Johnson, linebacker Korey Banks and defensive back Ryan Phillips. Also named were guard Jovan Olafioye, kicker Paul McCallum and returner Yonus Davis.
The Edmonton Eskimos had two players named: Receiver Fred Stamps and defensive back Chris Thompson.