Lions lose in late-night cat fight
Battle of the CFL’s basement dwellers decided by late Tiger-Cats field goal
For the confounding B.C. Lions, a last-place club that has lost its identity, the upcoming bye week is a double-edged sword.
Win Friday against the sad-sack Hamilton Tiger-Cats at B.C. Place Stadium and you can’t wait to play again to sustain momentum. Lose and the last thing you need to find your game is more time away from the practice field and to think about a Canadian Football League season going further south.
So, what are we to make of a 2423 loss before 18,091 fans in which the Lions couldn’t find the urgency and desperation that coach Wally Buono was calling for?
“We’re built on balance,” he had preached.
The fact the Lions couldn’t find that crucial balance between run and passing games to keep the lowly Tiger-Cats off balance is why they’re 6-7 and doing plenty of navel-gazing. Especially after Sergio Castillo struck for a 50-yard field goal with 10 seconds remaining. How else do you explain Jeremiah Johnson and Chris Rainey combining for just 14 first-half rushing yards? Was the offensive line losing the battle at the line of scrimmage or were the backs not hitting holes with authority? And how do you explain all those momentumkilling penalties?
And just when the Lions started to establish a second-half run game as Johnson upped his total to 71 yards on a dozen carries, they stalled yet again and a 45-yard Ty Long field goal to cut the lead to 21-20 with less than seven minutes remaining was either going to put them in position to win or to suffer a bitter loss.
The Lions looked to be driving for the win when Jonathon Jennings found Bryan Burnham for a 24-yard strike and Johnson rambled for 19 yards. But they stalled and a 20-yard field goal gave them a tenuous two-point cushion.
There was some second-half hope when Johnson racked up 33 yards on five carries during an early third-quarter drive that stalled and resulted in a 38-yard field goal and a 14-11 lead. However, when the offence wasn’t clicking, the defence was giving up way too much turf.
Tiger-Cats quarterback Jeremiah Masoli hit a wide-open Luke Tasker for a 17-yard strike in the third quarter and found him again wide open in the corner of the end zone to give the Tiger-Cats an 1814 lead. Jennings was able to respond on the next drive with a 48yard strike to Shaquille Johnson, but the Lions stalled yet again in the red zone and couldn’t punch in a major from three yards.
They had to settle for a 10-yard field goal to pull to within 18-17 and it was disheartening and unsettling. Yet, when it mattered the most in the fourth quarter, the Lions didn’t put enough defensive heat on the agile Masoli. He had too much time to hit receivers on short routes that ate up yardage and the clock. However, the Tiger-Cats were stalled and had to settle for a 22-yard field goal to make it 21-17.
Of course, it wasn’t supposed to be this way — at least on paper. The Tiger-Cats were 2-9 and had surrendered a league-worst 381 points, a whopping 34.6 average per outing. They were giving up a league-high 347.4 yards a game and in this late-night cat fight, they were supposed to suffer the most damage.
On that note, there was a sustained drive in the first quarter to hint of some needed Lions symmetry. On a nine-play, 52-yard scoring drive that featured methodical movement of the football — Jennings made completions that included 17-, 22-, nine- and 10-yard strikes that culminated with his two-yard scamper for the major and then a two-point conversion to take an 8-7 lead. There was an early sense that the much-maligned quarterback was starting to find some missing mojo. However, it was the should-have and couldhave misses that kept the Lions from gaining breathing space and confidence. Jennings found a wide open Chris Williams with a long bomb early in the second quarter, only to see the sure touchdown slip through his fingers. And even though there was a penalty on the play, it was a reception Williams simply had to make.
Then there was a red-zone sequence in the second quarter with the clubs locked in an 8-8 chess match. After Manny Arceneaux won a jump-call contest to haul in a 43-yard strike, the Lions bogged down after Williams latched on to a nine-yard catch. Rainey was stuffed up the gut for a short gain and Arceneaux stopped short of a first down, which led to a 16-yard field goal and an 11-8 lead that could have been 15-8.