The BC Lions didn’t win tonight’s game at BC Place as much as the Toronto Argonauts lost it. Toronto’s offensive line was simply inept in protecting quarterback Cody Pickett, yielding six sacks and allowing the BC pass rush to hurry Pickett all night, contributing to a pair of interceptions as the Lions prevailed, 23-17.

It was often ugly, but how they won won’t be remembered a week from tonight. No, the story from Vancouver is all about the coach with the most wins in Canadian Football League history, as the Lions lifted Wally Buono past the legendary Don Matthews in giving him win number 232 for his career.

The night started on a positive note for Coach Buono’s boys. The defence backed Toronto up on their opening possession with a sack by Rickey Foley and then a Jason Arakgi recovery of a botched Jason Medlock punt gave the Lions the ball at the Toronto eight-yard-line.

The offense, with Buck Pierce back under centre,  was held motionless, forcing the Lions to settle on a Sean Whyte field goal to draw first blood.

It looked as if it might be another long night for the Boatmen when Pickett threw his first interception of the night to Korey Banks on the ensuing possession. Five plays later, the CFL’s leading rusher Martell “The Hammer” Mallett cashed the turnover in for six points and the ensuing conversion by Whyte staked the Lions to a 10-0 bulge.

The defence took the ball back again, stuffing the CFL’s second leading rusher- Jamal Robertson- for a loss of four yards and sacking Pickett for another four, but the Lions were unable to capitalize again to put the game seemingly out of reach, and settled for a single to lead by eleven.

After the first quarter, it seemed Toronto was stuck in reverse, marshalling a total offense amounting to a loss of nine yards; while the Lions were sputtering along, failing to sustain a drive of more than five plays yet still emerging with the lead. It would turn out that they’d need it.

After an exchange of field goals, the Toronto D would come up big, blocking a Sean Whyte punt and capitalizing on it as Jordan Younger scooped the ball up and scored the touchdown to close the gap to 14-10. The teams would return to the locker rooms at the half with the score unchanged.

The Argos would take the lead on their first possession of the second half, keyed by a sixty-two yard strike from Pickett to Chad Lucas. Four Jamal Robertson rushes and one by Kerry Joseph moved the ball to the BC one, and Robertson took it in for the score to make it 17-14 in favour of the visitors.

The Lions would tie the game again on the ensuing possession, culminating in a 41-yard field goal from Whyte, and  took the lead two possessions later on another field goal, this one from thirty-two yards. From there, it was simply a matter of holding on.

Sean Whyte would kick another in the closing seconds of the fourth quarter to provide the final margin, but by and large, there wasn’t much to celebrate from the offense in this one- provident, because there really aren’t any storylines to distract from the Buono milestone.

Buck Pierce was decent in his first game back starting, going twenty-for-twenty-eight for 171 yards while throwing no interceptions, and spreading the wealth to seven different recievers. Mallett had a relatively lackluster evening, marshaling only fifty-five yards on eighteen attempts. The defense was led by Ricky Foley, who had a monster of a game with seven tackles and three sacks; and JoJuan Armour with four tackles.

Wally’s in the record books in time to return to Calgary next week as the Lions look to even their record at 6-6 against the Stampeders.

Quick Hits:

• According to Lowell Ullrich of the Vancouver Province, the Lions have initiated talks with quarterback Casey Printers about a possible practice roster position. Printers has retained agent Gil Scott to participate in the discussions, but Buono is making it clear that if Printers wants anything more than a practice roster deal, the discussion will be a short one.
• Don Matthews was in attendance to witness Buono’s record setting win.
• The Lions will have to contend with a revamped Calgary receiving core Friday. Ryan Thelwell ruptured his Achilles tendon in Calgary’s game against Hamilton Friday, and has been lost for the season. The Stamps wasted little time replacing Thelwell, who was having a stellar season, acquiring import receiver Romby Bryant and  non-import Arjei Franklin from Winnipeg following another loss for the Bombers Sunday in Montreal. Winnipeg receives receiver Jabari Arthur, returner Titus Ryan and defensive lineman Odell Willis plus two draft picks.

(Compiled by Brian Wawryshyn)