HAMILTON — The BC Lions completed their three game Eastern swing with their third consecutive win, overpowering the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 41-26 at Tim Hortons Field.
Travis Lulay broke a CFL record for most passing yards off the bench after Jonathon Jennings went down with a reported shoulder injury in the first quarter. Lulay threw for 436 yards on 29-of-36 passes for three touchdown passes and two interceptions.
The Lions offence got off to a rough start when Jennings’ first pass of the game – a long ball intended for Emmanuel Arceneaux – was picked off by Richard Leonard. The Ticats’ offence fed off of the interception as Collaros led a steady drive down the field. The pivot connected with Luke Tasker twice and completed 4-of-5 passes before Jeremiah Masoli powered into the end zone for the short touchdown run to give the Black and Gold a 7-0 lead midway through the quarter.
Jennings was hit by Duron Colman on the Lions’ first offensive play of the game and was replaced by Travis Lulay on the next drive.
The Ticats gave up 39 yards on a pass interference and rouging the passer call on the same play, advancing the Lions to the Ticats 38-yard line. BC capitalized on the advanced field position when Lulay connected with Shaq Johnson for the Lions first major of the game.
The Lions attempted a two-point covert to pull ahead, but the pass was picked off by Luke Taker, who ran it back into BC territory but was taken down to keep the score at 7-6 in favour of Hamilton.
The Lions would turn over the ball for the second time in the quarter on a Marco Iannuzzi fumble. Leonard pounced on the ball to allow Collaros and company to take over the field once again.
Hamilton continued to collect points off of the Lions’ turnovers as Collaros connected with Jalen Saunders for a long 60 yard gain to put the Ticats in the red zone. Ross Scheuerman charged across the plane at the beginning of the second quarter to cap off the drive with a four-yard major. The extra-point convert sailed wide left to keep the score at 13-6.
The Lions responded before the end of the quarter on a scoring drive that covered 95 yards on eight plays. Lulay found four different receivers for double digit gains before punching it into the end zone himself on a one-yard quarterback sneak. The successful two-yard convert attempt gave the Lions their first lead of the game with just under two minutes to go.
But the Lions weren’t done there.
The Ticats didn’t have the ball back for long as Collaros’ next pass was intercepted by T.J. Lee in Hamilton territory. Lualay made quick work of the short field, finding Nick Moore in the end zone to give the Lions there second touchdown in 59 second.
Sergio Castillo notched a 48-yard field goal with zeros left on the clock to cut the Lions lead to 21-16 heading into halftime.
The Lions struck first in the second half when Lulay found Moore in stride along the right sideline for a 69-yard gain, but Hamilton’s defence held strong, forcing the Lions to settle for a 13-yard field goal to pull further ahead 24-16.
The Lions continued to expose the Ticats secondary before the end of the quarter. Burnham made an impressive one-handed snag in the end zone that was initially ruled incomplete. However, the play was reviewed and the call was overturned to give Lulay his third touchdown pass of the game to pull the Lions ahead 31-16.
BC notched a 50-yard field goal at the start of the final quarter to continue to pull further ahead.
The Ticats attempted to claw back into the game as Collaros responded with a touchdown drive of his own. The pivot connected with Saunders in the right corner of the end zone for a 25-yard major. Mike Jones caught the two-point convert pass to cut the Lions lead to 34-24.
BC’s offence proved to be too much for the Ticats as Lulay continued his passing prowess. The Lions’ quarterback found Moore twice on the Lions’ late drive for a 19 and 20 yard gain before Jeremiah Johnson capped off the drive with short touchdown run. The extra point was successful to push the Lions ahead 41-24 midway through the final quarter, which is where the score stood when the final whistle blew.
