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Heeere's Johnny! Week 3 of the CFL and the Lions WIN 37 - 29

By 250 News

-by John Goodwin

Lions Beat the Renegades 37-29

Geroy Simon and Javier Glatt model new B.C.  Lions uniforms

It’s early and only the 2nd game following a one week layover but one might wonder just who are these collection of assembled wannabe’s wearing BC Lion colors.

The team kicks the season off with a come back win vs. the Grey Cup champs but some badly needed adjustments had to be made:

Matters needing attention:
The offensive line started the campaign where they left off last Nov,. that being offensive to all concerned.
The 2 much deservedly maligned corners didn’t compromise their team’s game this time as they had on so many occasions throughout last season, but were mostly untested in game one.
The kicking game sucked, but this was not a typical Duncan O’Mahony performance and most people knew he’d be heard from again, likely as early as game two.
Special teams continue to be non threatening and uninterested.

Enter week three, game two:

From an entertainment standpoint the participants would indeed be challenged to keep national TV viewers interested following a barn burner in Montreal where the Alouettes take it to the Eskimos at home with a David Duval FG with just 2/10ths of a second left on the clock.

The Lions and Renegades would not achieve such status on this night however BC fans had justification for some optimism as coaching and management during their one week layoff had successfully began the process of exorcizing the demons that had dogged this team over the past few seasons.

In their home opener under the dome the Lions started slowly, as rust will cause one to do given the circumstances, and a charged up Renegade team gave their offensive line and Dave Dickinson fits as the sack parade on their quarterback continued where it left off on Toronto in game one.

While pressure on Dickenson continued throughout the game he was able to eventually buy himself some time by getting Antonio Warren involved [in spite of two costly Warren turnovers resulting from fumbles] and began connecting on some quick outs to his receivers. 

On special teams the Lions appear to have found a jewel in Aaron Lockett (to dress up a somewhat tarnished crown) who managed to bring the crowd to it’s feet on several occasions as he put on a light show returning Ottawa kicks in electrifying fashion to pile up the field position for his new team. It’s the stuff that no amount of PR and marketing can achieve, as A.L. will surly put a few more bums in the seats at BC Place Stadium.

Lion’s defensive end Brent Johnson was credited with 3 out of five of his team’s sacks tonight.

Ottawa coaching staff deserves a lot of credit for having their Renegades supercharged and pumped up for yet another game with a highly touted CFL team, in the BC Lions. It wasn’t until Antonio Warren got hot and took the lead to 27-15 that the Lions looked to be on the way to the win.

BC appeared late in the contest to be dissatisfied with finishing off without any unnecessary misadventure as Jerel Myers instead of dropping to one knee for a single Ottawa point, attempts to run a missed Matt Kellett field goal out of his end zone only to have Mike Sutherland fall on his fumble giving the Renegades life and a chance for recovery from what had earlier appeared to be inoperable.

Ottawa penalties (and there may have been as many as 15) killed opportunities to stay close and with approximately 1.5 minutes left Renegades Greg Moss essentially finished his team with a 15 yard unnecessary roughing major that allowed BC to finally kill off the clock.

On a final note, the Casey Printers saga continues. 
In an interview prior to the game general manager Bobby Ackles said they have an offer on the table and they want to sign him.
Let’s all hope that deal gets done soon.
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