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Like kicking a wasp’s nest! BC Lions 23 -Wpg. Blue Bombers 44

By 250 News

-by John Goodwin


It was a tail of two cities.... one hosting a team with little to lose seeking some measure of self respect by turning lemons into lemon-aid.
The BC Lions on the other hand would limp into town for a skirmish that had the potential of getting them back to their winning ways, as they desperately needed to gain some pre playoff momentum if they hoped to fulfill a dream of earning the ultimate prize at home this November
before a full house in a football mad city.

Going into this one Lion’s faithful were wondering if today’s game story would be the same old, same old offensive line’s failure to hold off another attempt at pummeling.... or worse yet the unthinkable, eliminating one more BC QB from a stable of pivots already on life support.

The Leos may have been successful this past week in at least partially addressing the situation by signing Cdn. offensive lineman Chris Burns, an 11 yr. CFL veteran. Not sure he got into this game. He brings to the table not only the potential for stability to a key component of their attack,
but provides a great deal of flexibility as he plays three positions...center guard and tackle

Notwithstanding the addition of the new guy to the roster, the game for the offensive line on this Thanksgiving day was a real turkey.

CFL Player of the month Dave Dickenson, would not be seen leading his charges across a frozen Winnipeg football field today, and was replaced by twenty three yr. old third string up and comer New Mexico State QB Buck Pierce, who was backed up by Casey Printers.

Buck Pierce did go down early in the second half and didn’t return.


The devil as is most often the case can be found in the details:

I have seen the enemy and it’s me!

The game started well for the visitors with a Buck Pierce 75 yd. march culminating in an Antonio Warren TD ramble at 4:18 of the opening quarter.

The Bombers answered on the next series thanks mostly to the running of Charles Roberts and at the 7:48 mark Jamie Stoddard would finish the drive with a 13 yd. pass from Kevin Glenn tying the score at seven when he got in behind DB Ryan Phillips for the score. That was just the
second TD of the season for Stoddard

BC penalties would again play a part in this one as undisciplined play would snuff out drives and the team’s ability to capitalize on opportunities.

Buck Pierce started the second quarter with three straight two and outs.

He did however convert a BC drive into a major as he took it in from the one at 9:47 of the
quarter...14-7 Lions.

Winnipeg continued to hang around with a stunning 54 yard pass and run play to a wide open Milt Stegall at 12:17, his first of four on the day. Stegall would make mince meat of the Lion’s backfield as he burned corner-back Dante’ Marsh on this one to again tie the score...14-14

BC blocked a Wpg. punt late in the second as three Lions untouched, failed to fall on the ball in the end zone and had to settle for a safety as they knocked it out of bounds...16-14 BC.

Winnipeg returned the favor by marching from deep in their own end and capped the drive off with another Milt Stegall wide open 10 yd. pass and run play. This was only his second reception of the day...both for TD’s. 21-16 Wpg. and they would not again relinquish the lead.

BC finished the half with Pierce 12 for 20, 133 yards passing and 64 on the run. Wpg. was more productive on a lot less offense with 15 and 60 yards respectively.

The Lion’s penalties of 8 for 80 yards in just one half of football kinda jumps out at ya.

The wheels come off the BC wagon in the second half as on the Bomber’s first play of the quarter Roberts takes the ball from Kevin Glenn and rambles to the BC one yd. line. The Lions would hold them out for two downs only to finally succumb to QB Kevin Glenn running the ball
in himself...28-16 Bombers.

To this point the Lions had begun to show signs of cracks in the offense as QB Buck Pierce’ inexperience and lack of support from his offensive line became a factor and the offense stumbled under his direction.

The Leos give up a single running the Winnipeg lead to 29-16. Buck Pierce was forced to leave the game with a lower body injury.....enter Casey Printers.

Casey had success on his first series of downs as he took the ball in a 10 play drive to the Wpg. one yd. line and capped it off with a TD by Antonio Warren....29-23 Peg.

The Bombers would than take a death grip on the game with a 69 yarder and 101 yard completion to Milt (watch me score again) Stegall beating rookie Tony Tiller in both instances. It looked more and more like men against boys. A convert and a two point conversion mercifully rounded out the scoring for Winnipeg.

CBC cameras took a quick peek down the BC bench late in the game, and the Lions looked like they were emersed in a squaller of misery.

With the untimely injury (not that any of them are really timely in any event) of safety Mark Washington til hopefully no more than just before the playoffs, Lion’s rookie Tony Tiller has been trashed as opposing QB’s see this area as the Lion’s sweet spot needing to be exploited if
they wish to take away two points....and opposing QB’s continue to go right at that area.A classy Milt Stegall went to Tony T. at game’s end in an attempt to console him.

This was shock and awe any way ya want to slice it...an ugly loss against a struggling team. A 90 yd. Wpg. TD late in Q1 fortunately for the Lions was called back. Poor special teams coverage and blocking, poor run coverage early on, too many opportunity killing penalties, losing the battle at the offensive line with terrible blocking for their running game.

Antonio Warren and Aaron Locket with a less than memorable afternoon because of it.

This Lions team have gone from the penthouse to the outhouse, quickly becoming the league’s whipping boys.

.
Sundry and random notable notes:

Winnipeg QB Kevin Glenn finished the game 15 for 24... 410 passing yards and 5 TD’s.

Cdn. Lions DE Brent Johnson recorded 2 sacks for his 11th of the season.

Wpg’s Gavin Walls, himself sacked BC QB’s 4 times in this game

Earlier this week the Montreal Allouettes knocked off the high flying big green machine from Saskatchewan 38-34 and ended their win steak at five games. Winning gets a whole lot tougher when you have a record of five straight in the “W” column and sport a target emblazoned on your back.

The Eskimos graciously take a 17-13 gift from the Toronto Argonauts this afternoon as the Argos simply negated several great plays with penalties and turnovers.

So good to have football commentary again on the CBC broadcast today.

Next game for these BC Lions is in Montreal Sunday Oct. 16th. against the Allouettes. The game can be seen on TSN.
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