Two weeks ago, the BC Lions defence was simply abysmal against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, as Fred Reid ran almost at will up and down the field. Fortunately, the Lions had the bye week to attempt to exorcise the ghosts of their past as they looked to rebound against the 7-1 Montreal Alouettes.

And rebound they did.

Behind a strong rushing effort from Martell Mallett, the Lions and Als were even at 12 at the three-minute warning, and the defense which came into the game having given up the fewest rushing yards in the CFL had yielded 253 and a club record 213 of them to Mallett, accompanied by another 217 through the air.

More stunning, the Alouette offense had only managed a field goal against the BC defense.

Angus Reid and the BC offensive line  did an outstanding job opening holes for Mallett and protecting Jarious Jackson. JoJuan Armour and Dante Marsh led the defensive charge with seven tackles apiece. If the squad’s effort against Winnipeg was a woeful F, tonight’s was at least an A-. The Lions defense gave up 395 yards, but only the one David Duvall field goal. The other Montreal scoring came on a special teams touchdown when an errant snap easily cleared punter Sean Whyte’s head and was returned sixty-seven yards. The Als also added a and a pair of singles. The Lions established an effective pass rush early, registering two of their three sacks in the scoreless first quarter and knocking Anthony Calvillo to the BC Place turf a few more times.

After the three-minute warning in the fourth quarter, it was a Jarious Jackson to Emmanuel Arceneaux touchdown toss to put the Lions ahead 19-12, and the Lions would claw and scrape their way to a victory over the Alouettes.

The final drive, though, was an exercise in Kafkaesque horror for Montreal with no exit in sight- on a third-and one from the BC seven, Adrian McPherson appeared to make the first-down on the sneak- but the play was nullified due to a ruling that time-out had been called before the play.

On the second reprise of third-and-one, Avon Coburne scampered around left tackle and into the end-zone for the touchdown. Or did he? The replay official called for a review to determine the amount of time which should have been on the clock, and the officials nullified the play.

And finally, on third-and-one, take three, the Lions came up with a stop. But it wasn’t over then. No, the Lions would face a third-and-one of their own- but would get a more favourable spot, and hold on to capture their fourth victory on the season, sending the Alouettes to only their second setback of the season.

Next week sees the back-end of this home-and-home with the Alouettes. If the Lions can play as well on the road next Sunday, we may well see a strong playoff push materialize.

Notes:

• The club record 213 rushing yards for Mallet eclipsed the 212 yard total previously registered by Sean Millington registered on August 15th, 1997 against Saskatchewan.
• Not a bad Labour Day weekend crowd witnessed the contest, with 27,199 fans taking in the game and making it very loud in the fourth quarter.
• Jarious Jackson went 17-30 for 217 yards and two touchdowns and could have had more with Lions receivers behind Montreal defenders often only to be overthrown.
• The win moved head coach Wally Buono into a tie with Don Matthews as the CFL’s all-time leader for wins coached.