Rookies flourish in blowout win
A night of firsts against Montreal
VANCOUVER — If the B.C. Lions were a frat house, Saturday could have represented the end of rush week.
While seniors Kevin Glenn, John Beck and Manny Arceneaux, especially, ran the show in a 41-5 mauling of the Montreal Alouettes, three pledges became fully invested in the brotherhood with breakthrough performances at BC Place.
Rookie left tackle Hunter Steward made his first professional start, first-year defensive end Alex Bazzie bagged his first two quarterback sacks and newbie quarterback Travis Partridge scored his first touchdown in the Canadian Football League.
Cool, calm and green, the three rookies made important first steps in their burgeoning CFL careers, though they were postscripts to a game in which Glenn and Beck each threw for a pair of touchdowns and Arceneaux had eight catches for 145 yards and three scores.
“As quarterbacks, we were excited to see Hunter play, because of the asset we feel he’ll be for our team,” remarked Beck, who replaced Glenn late in the third quarter after the starter had thrown for 301 yards — his first 300-yard game as a Lion.
“We felt this was a good game for Hunter to start his (career) clock. He needs to start playing, getting reps, because he’s only going to get better.
“He’s a confident guy. He looks the part. It’s exciting for us to see him progress.”
The 22-year-old Steward, the third different player to start at left tackle in the Lions’ first four games, was party to only one obvious lapse, in the first quarter, when he and left guard Kirby Fabien got their signals crossed. It allowed defensive tackle Michael Klassen an unimpeded lane in which to sack Glenn, one of four quarterback takedowns registered by the Alouettes.
“It was a little bit of miscommunication,” Steward admitted. “We talked it out on the sidelines. We got that same look a couple of other times, and we locked it down.”
Two other sacks, however, occurred opposite to where Steward lined up. The fourth Alouette sack was a gimme, after Partridge mishandled the snap late in the fourth quarter in relief of Beck.
“I have to agree with Beck that making mistakes is the best way to learn,” Steward said. “You learn from mistakes much better than watching from the sidelines. Everybody’s going to mess up, once in a while. What makes a great athlete is to be able to learn from that mistake, correct it and move forward.”
Bazzie would second that statement.
After finishing his senior season with 66 tackles and 13 sacks for the Marshall Thundering Herd, the rookie defensive end was skunked in his first three outings for the Lions, through over-eagerness as much as anything.
In a July 12 game in Regina, he had Roughriders’ quarterback Darian Durant trapped behind the line of scrimmage, only to have him wriggle off the hook.
“Tonight, it almost happened again,” Bazzie said. “This time, I just told myself to stay in control, don’t get out of control, in case he puts a move on. That picture from Saskatchewan kept running through my head. ‘Not again, not again.’ I just kept running, giving myself that extra push, and I got him down.”
His third-quarter sack of Troy Smith, as the Montreal quarterback made like Wrong Way Corrigan in desperately trying to escape Bazzie’s clutches, cost the Alouettes 20 yards in field position.
Bazzie added his second career sack in the fourth quarter, a takedown of Tanner Marsh who replaced the beleaguered Smith.
Bazzie gave a lot of credit for his inspired play to Khreem Smith and Eric Tay- lor, the veteran D-linemen who pulled off some secondquarter razzle dazzle. Smith burst in off the edge to block Sean Whyte’s punt.
When Smith fished around and couldn’t get his hands on the loose ball, Taylor did, picking it up and lumbering 19 yards to set up a one-yard touchdown run by Partridge.