Lulay leads Lions past Ticats

Backup quarterback Travis Lulay came off the bench to throw three TD passes and rush for another as the BC Lions defeated the winless Hamilton Tiger-Cats 41-26 in CFL action Saturday night.

The Lions (3-1) extended their win streak to three games while Hamilton fell to 0-3 in front of a homeopening sell-out crowd of 24,135 at Tim Hortons Field.

Lulay, Shaq Johnson, Nick Moore, Brian Burnham and Jeremiah Johnson each scored touchdowns for BC.

Jeremiah Masoli, Ross Scheuerman, and Jalen Saunders scored for Hamilton.

Lions kicker Ty Long was good on both field-goal attempts, from 14 and 50 yards.

Ticat kicker Sergio Castillo was good on his 48-yard fieldgoal attempt.

BC starting quarterback Jon Jennings injured his throwing arm on the Lions’ first play from scrimmage — in which he threw an interception while under pressure — and was replaced for the rest of the game by Lulay.

Lulay also made a pointssaving tackle on Hamilton defensive back Richard Leonard who had just intercepted him on a twopoint convert attempt and was streaking downfield. Lulay completed 29-of-36 pass attempts for 436 yards, three TDs and two interceptions.

Hamilton’s Leonard intercepted Jennings and recovered a fumble in the first quarter, leading to 13 Ticat points, and added an interception against Lulay on a two-point convert attempt. Hamilton quarterback Zach Collaros completed 30-of-48 pass attempts for 361 yards, one TD and one interception.

There were some signs of life from the Ticats, whose offence has been struggling. They came out strong, recording seven first downs in the first quarter and negating the storyline line that they had yet to get a firstquarter first down this season. They also scored a first-quarter TD for good measure. They had a 13-6 lead in the second quarter, until BC scored 15 points in 59 seconds late in the half and suddenly the Lions took a 21-16 lead into the locker room.

Long’s 14-yard field goal made it 24-16 midway through the third and a 71-yard scoring drive, capped by a six-yard TD pass from Lulay to Burnham, made it 31-16 heading into the fourth. Long hit from 50 yards to make it 34-16.

Hamilton pulled to 3424 with 11 minutes left in the game on a 25-yard TD strike from Collaros to Saunders and a successful two-point conversion. But Lulay and the Lions struck back immediately with a 66-yard drive leading to a four-yard TD run by Jeremiah Johnson and the 41-24 lead.