Lions eke out last- second win
Mccallum’s 41- yard field goal on game’s final play helps sluggish B. C. avoid upset
Vaunted defence stands fast and McCallum does the rest.
Quarterback Travis Lulay of the B. C. Lions said he was still feeling the physical effects of last Sunday’s game on the flight to Winnipeg.
After he arrived here Thursday, there were media duties and team meetings to attend to, a new hotel bed to get used to, and an ornery Winnipeg Blue Bombers team waiting for him on a humid, 31 C night at Canad Inns Stadium.
Friday’s game against the Bombers, you can imagine, came upon him much too fast.
“I was still sore from last week’s game [ Sunday’s 24- 5 win over Saskatchewan] on the flight here,” Lulay admitted, following a last- play 20- 17 win over the Blue Bombers. “That’s just the nature of the schedule, but it was tough sledding out there. It took a ton of effort for our guys to overcome it. It was a character win, when we weren’t at our best, and we keep our momentum going.”
After giving up a pair of fourth- quarter interceptions that the Bombers turned into field goals to take a 14- 10 lead, Lulay rallied his team by playing the antithesis of conservative football, a criticism some have levelled repeatedly at the Lions’ offensive philosophy.
“That is a bullshit assessment,” said Lions head coach Mike Benevides. And the closing seconds proved him right.
After Justin Palardy’s 31- yard field goal tied the game 17- 17 with 0: 27 left, Lions’ offensive coordinator Jacques Chapdelaine and the head coach huddled briefly. The decision was made to go for it, and to hell with waiting to take their chances in overtime.
“I heard Jacques and Coach Benevides have a quick conversation on it,” Lulay explained. “Did we want to win right then, or play for overtime? We decided we had a timeout left, and we wanted to take a shot to get into field goal range. Jacques obviously made some pretty nice play calls.”
From the B. C. 35- yard line, Lulay completed a 16- yard pass to Ernest Jackson. The clock read: 0: 27. On the next play, Geroy Simon made a marvellous grab under double coverage for 24 more yards. Twenty one seconds remained. Shawn Gore brought the football two yards closer with 15 seconds still to play. Then, with the scoreboard registering 0: 01, and 29,533 fans hanging in suspense, Paul McCallum calmly struck a 41- yard field goal to win it.
“No big deal,” Lulay said. “Paul walked out there and put on his chinstrap real slow. It looked like he was doing a practice rep. He was cool as a cucumber.”
“We were just fighting to get to the 50 [ yard line],” Benevides said. “The way Paul was hitting the ball with the wind [ in practice] he was confident he could hit it from there. That’s all he wanted. Fortunately for us, we got it to the 40 [ actually the 35- yard line]. It was one of those character wins for us.”
Earlier in the fourth quarter, however, Lulay served up a pair of interceptions, to Demond Washington and Marcellus Bowman, to wipe out a 10- 8 Lions lead. But Winnipeg could manage only a pair of Palardy field goals on the picks to take a 14- 10 lead.
Normally, turnovers at critical times are game changers, if not outright game killers. But the Lions’ defence held, and Benevides believed it was signature display of fortitude.
“Our defence was down a man [ Anthony Reddick, hip flexor] and Jason Arakgi stepped in and did a wonderful job,” Benevides said.
“He played a ton. Stopping the Blue Bombers [ from scoring touchdowns] twice in our zone was huge. They only got threes [ field goals] out of those turnovers. That was huge.”
Despite his spate of interceptions, Lulay, if you haven’t noticed by now, is not easily discouraged.
With the Lions trailing 14- 10, he rebounded with a stunning six- play drive with less than three minutes left that Andrew Harris finished with a twoyard touchdown run to put B. C. ahead 17- 14. In the second quarter, he found Harris for a five- yard score, the 19th straight game in which the Lions quarterback has thrown a touchdown pass.
Ahead 10- 1 in the third quarter, the Lions’ defence finally surrendered a touchdown, after going 247 minutes and 15 quarters, denying opponents only field goals and safeties.
Winnipeg backup Alex Brink, on a one- yard quarterback sneak, scored with 4: 15 left in the third quarter to cut B. C.’ s lead to 10- 8, the first time the Lions defence had been touched up for a touchdown since July 20.
“I felt it was coming,” said defensive end Keron Williams. “I felt the momentum shift. They had so many opportunities, with the field position, it was only a matter of time. It was hot out there. We found if difficult to breathe. And it’s always hard to play here. The crowd is so loud, and the Blue Bombers really play you tough at home, for some reason. But we only gave up one touchdown today.
“For whatever reason, we found a way to win. That’s the character of this team. That’s the makeup of a championship team: to be able to win, no matter what the situation is.”
The win improved the Lions’ record to a league- leading 6- 2 as B. C. swept its two- game series against the 2- 6 Blue Bombers.
The Lions fly home today, but they’re in the air again Wednesday for a five- hour flight to Montreal, where they complete an arduous three games in 12 days odyssey next Friday against the Alouettes.
“Find a way. Doesn’t matter how, or by how much,” Lulay said. “When you walk away with a W, like we did tonight, you’ve got to feel good about yourself.”