Redblacks down Lions in Ottawa
OTTAWA — Lewis Ward kicked five field goals and William Powell scored a two-yard touchdown run in the final minute of the game to give the Ottawa Redblacks a 29-25 win over the B.C. Lions on Friday night.
After Tyler Long kicked a 20-yard field goal giving the Lions a 25-22 lead with 1:59 to play, Trevor Harris drove the Redblacks 80 yards on eight plays capped off by Powell’s two-yard run for the win.
Harris finished with 363 passing yards and a touchdown.
Travis Lulay threw for 325 yards and two touchdowns for the Lions, including a 78-yard catch-and-run play to Emmanuel Arceneaux inside the final three minutes that led to the Long field goal.
An incomplete pass on third down by Lulay with 25 seconds to play sealed the win for the Redblacks.
Lewis Ward’s fifth field goal of the night, this one from 36-yards out, tied the game 22-22 for the Redblacks four minutes into the fourth quarter.
The Lions built a 14-9 halftime lead with a pair of second-quarter touchdowns to erase a 6-0 lead the Redblacks had built.
Lulay connected with Ricky Collins Jr. on a five-yard touchdown pass at 10:31 before Brandon Rutley scored a one-yard run at 12:59.
Ward got three of those points back with a 39-yard field goal just nine seconds before the end of the half. It was the third field goal of the game for Ward, who hit first quarter three-pointers from 11 and 47 yards on the Redblacks’ first two drives on the game.
The Redblacks collected 11 first downs and 203 yards of offence in the first half, compared with 13 first downs and 169 yards of offence during the entirety of their loss against Calgary last week.
Four minutes into the third quarter, Ward kicked a 48-yard field goal cutting the B.C. lead to 14-12, but on the next series Lulay connected with Arceneaux not once, but twice on an eight-point scoring play.
The touchdown pass was 26 yards and then Lulay found a diving Arceneaux in the back of the end zone for the twopoint conversion.
The Redblacks responded on their next possession as Harris found Brad Sinopoli in the end zone for a 13-yard major. It was the Redblacks’ first touchdown in almost nine quarters of football, and the Ward conversion pulled them to within three at 22-19 after the third quarter.