Lulay reaches milestone in leading Lions over visiting Eskimos, 31-23
VANCOUVER — Travon Van’s eight-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter staked the B.C. Lions to a comeback 31-23 win over the Edmonton Eskimos on Thursday night.
The Lions (3-4) ended their losing skid at two games while handing the Eskimos (5-3) their first loss in four outings.
Van made his first start at running back in place of the injured Jeremiah Johnson. His touchdown gave the Lions an insurmountable 27-20 lead. It came came one play after defensive lineman Otha Foster forced Edmonton quarterback Mike Reilly to fumble and then recovered the ball himself.
B.C. quarterback Travis Lulay surpassed 20,000 passing yards for his career as he completed 16-of-29 passes, including one for an eight-yard touchdown toss to Kevin Elliott.
Lulay surpassed the 20,000-yard mark late in the third quarter, becoming just the third QB in franchise history to reach that milestone — joining Roy Dewalt and Damon Allen.
The Lions’ other points came on Chris Rainey’s 79-yard punt return and three field goals, including a career-best 51-yarder, two converts and two punt singles from Ty Long.
Reilly threw two touchdown passes — to Nate Behar and Derrel Walker — and ran for one score himself. Reilly now has a league-leading 16 TD passes on the season.
Edmonton’s other points came from kicker Sean Whyte.
The Lions got on the scoreboard with 51 seconds left in the first quarter as Long booted a 25-yard field goal. The three-pointer came shortly after Emmanuel Arceneaux caught a shovel pass from Lulay on a reverse play and picked up 39 yards. That extended Arceneaux’s reception streak to 109 games.
B.C. teammate Bryan Burnham has now caught at least one pass in 52 consecutive contests.