On top, but not unscathed
B.C. finishes with a win and now has two weeks to rest and heal for Western final
Only one thing mattered for the B.C. Lions Saturday, and it was mission accomplished with Travis Lulay.
The outstanding player candidate quarterback with the wonky shoulder returned, didn’t sustain further damage in his 15 minutes of work, and departed having wiped away any concern associated with two-game absence.
However, it was every other injury which occupied the attention of the Lions — who gave Mike Benevides a 13th win, equalling a CFL record for a rookie coach — in the form of a 17-6 decision over the Saskatchewan Roughriders before 36,357 fans at B.C. Place Stadium.
It was a game in which Andrew Harris capped off his top Canadian candidacy by winning the league’s yards-from-scrimmage title and Adam Bighill, a potential top defensive finalist, went over the century mark in tackles.
The Lions also finished with the toprated offence and defence for the first time in franchise history, and by holding the Riders to a pair of field goals, ending the regular season with the fewest points against (354) since the league went to an 18-game schedule.
It hardly would be enough to prevent the winner of next week’s division semifinal from showing up Nov. 18 to contest for a Grey Cup berth. It was, however, good enough for the Lions to put their abysmal performance in Calgary the week previous in the past.
Though the idea was to keep Lulay upright, not every teammate could say the same, and the Lions didn’t waste time getting starters off the field once they suffered injuries.
Defensive end Keron Williams went down with an apparent quad contusion on the Riders’ second possession. Then offensive lineman Dean Valli of the Lions injured his left leg and was taken to the dressing room for evaluation, and Eric Taylor exited gingerly late in the second quarter when he appeared to be the victim of an illegal block by Saskatchewan’s Xavier Fulton away from the play.
B.C. would gladly have called it a night by the time another regular, Jason Arakgi, went down early in the third quarter, and Lin-J Shell had to take over briefly when J.R. LaRose, making his first start of the season for Cauchy Muamba, was forced to depart.
The offence under Lulay and Mike Reilly wasn’t perfect. With Geroy Simon a healthy scratch, the Lions predictably put the ball often in the hands of Harris, who fumbled his first touch.
Lulay completed nine-of-14 passes for 88 yards in the first quarter, almost all of which was spent dropping back in the pocket and not putting his shoulder at risk with motion.
But the defence was so solid it only required minimal push by the Lions to jump out in front 11-3 by halftime. B.C. didn’t allow a Riders first down in the opening quarter and backup Saskatchewan quarterback Drew Willy had only four yards offence.
Harris’ 20-yard run opened the scoring for the Lions late in the first quarter, a play which enabled the Lions tailback to retake the yards from scrimmage league lead from Calgary’s Jon Cornish.
But that was the only drive which produced a touchdown, and as such Lulay’s string of 26 games with a touchdown pass came to an end.
Reilly was productive in relief early, moving the offence 102 yards for a Paul McCallum chip shot. But Reilly couldn’t produce much of anything offensively until the fourth quarter, and it was left to the patchwork defence to shut the door.
Though they were down to three linemen with the injuries, they still had enough firepower behind them. Now they have two weeks to see if they have enough healthy survivors ready for the biggest game of the year.