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CFL B.C. Lions

Lions and Blue Bombers battle Friday night

August 20, 2009 - Canadian Football League (CFL)
B.C. Lions News Release


The BC Lions (3-4) welcome the Winnipeg Blue Bombers (2-5) to BC Place Friday night with their sights set on getting their record back to .500 on the season and staying in the race with their West Division rivals. The Lions and Bombers square off for the first time in 2009 with the two clubs heading in opposite directions lately. The Black and Orange have put back-to-back wins together to remain just two points out of first place. Last week's win in Toronto saw the club claw back from a 19-7 halftime deficit and secure a 36-28 victory with three fourth quarter touchdowns. Winnipeg meanwhile will not be in a good mood Friday night after dropping a lopsided decision to the Montreal Alouettes by a 39-12 margin on Saturday.

The Lions have enjoyed a decided advantage over the Bombers in the past five seasons winning eight of 10 games including five of the last six tilts and a sweep last season by a combined score of 69-42. Since taking over as GM and head coach in 2003, Wally Buono has led the Leos to 10 victories in 12 attempts over Winnipeg and now looks for career win number 231 which would tie him with Don Matthews as the CFL's leader in coaching wins.

On offence, quarterback Buck Pierce, who was knocked from the game last week in the first quarter, will be a spectator on the Lions sideline for at least the short term as the team's medical staff monitors his progress. In his place, Jarious Jackson will get his first start of the season after leading the team to two of their three victories this season from off the bench. Last week, Jarious overcame a rough start to his relief appearance in the first half to reappear in the second half after an injury to third string pivot Travis Lulay and eventually finish the game with 254 yards on 21 completions (31 attempts) including three touchdowns. With Pierce on the shelf at least through the team's upcoming bye-week, second-year Lion Zac Champion will now dress as the third QB on Friday.

The Bombers rank fourth against the run (99.4 yards per game) and seventh against the pass (277.6 yards per game) but have also recorded a league-high 16 interceptions through seven weeks and have three players ranked in the top five of the category (Shabazz, Johnson, Logan).

At receiver, Paris Jackson continues to excel in 2009 and turned in another gem of a performance versus the Argos with six catches for 122 yards and two touchdowns. Paris' 57-yard reception early in the fourth quarter touched off a 22-point explosion for the Lions in the final frame and his 35-yard TD late in the third quarter helped bring the club to within points after trailing 22-7. Teammate Geroy Simon notched five receptions for 60 yards and would have likely neared the century mark on the night if not for an inference penalty that still gave the Leos a 31-yard gain on the play. Simon missed a day of practice this week but is a go for Thursday. Rookie Emmanuel Arceneaux added another four catches for 45 yards including a blazing 23-yard TD which was closer to 70 yards given his cross-field sprint to the cone. Steady wideout O'Neil Wilson had one of the game's biggest grabs with the Lions electing to gamble on third down late in Friday's win. The Toronto native snagged a 13-yard pass to keep the offence on the field for the game-winning field goal four plays later.

Up front, the Lions gave Pierce, Jackson and Lulay sufficient time to deliver the ball and surrendered just a single sack on the night. The ground game was held to a 88 yards on the night with rookie Martell Mallett limited to 54 yards on 12 carries. If there were some struggles on offence through the first 30 minutes of last week's game then at least part of that can be attributed to the number of second-and-long situations the Lions found themselves in before getting things rolling in the second half. Look for the offensive line to try and establish early dominance in the trenches against Winnipeg to not only open up running lanes but keep more of the playbook available. The Bombers will not be pushovers however, after limiting Montreal's Avon Cobourne to just 49 yards on 11 carries a week ago. In fact, of the 99 rushing yards given up by Winnipeg's defence last week, 34 of those came on a QB sneak late in the game.

On defence, the Lions showed a bit of everything last week but will look to eliminate occasional breakdowns that lead to big plays. After allowing 220 rushing yards three weeks ago in Hamilton, Mike Benevides' crew has since put the brakes on two the league's better running backs in Wes Cates and Jamal Robertson, limiting the latter to just eight yards on eight rushes last week. The Argos finished the night with just 24 yards on the ground but a gaudy 326 yards through the air. This week the CFL's leading rusher, Fred Reid will look to get back on track after managing just 49 yards on the ground against Als.

On the defensive line, Ricky Foley and Aaron Hunt both notched sacks as well as two defensive tackles each to spur a Lions pass rush that came close to Cody Pickett on a number of plays. Brent Johnson and Jeremy Gibbs also chipped in with two tackles each with swing man Gary Butler picking up two stops on special teams. An effective pass rush would definitely be an asset with the Bombers' recent struggles on offence. The last time the Lions faced Michael Bishop he was in Saskatchewan Roughriders silks for the 2008 West Division Semi-Final, a game that saw Bishop throw three interceptions before making way for Darian Durant.

At linebacker, Anton McKenzie enjoyed one of his best games to date as a Lion - while only officially notching four tackles on the night, McKenzie was a force throughout the game filling gaps and forcing the Argos to the edge on running plays that didn't amount to much. Teammate JoJuan Armour continues to progress in his return to the Lions and will look to inflict some damage Friday as his conditioning improves. Javier Glatt remains a significant part of the defensive scheme and is doing his part on special teams picking up a pair of stops last week.

The Lions secondary had its hands full last week as Cody Pickett completed 25 passes for 326 yards and a TD. Of the 25 completions, seven went for 20 yards or more which coach Mark Washington was not pleased about following the game. The Lions currently rank fifth against the pass (255.7 yards per game) and would enjoy lowering that average versus the CFL's eighth-ranked passing game (156.9 yards per game). Looking for a bounce back performance will be Dante Marsh who attracted a significant amount of attention last week. "One of those nights," said the veteran cornerback who led the Lions with seven tackles. Ryan Phillips' nifty pickoff of an Argo lateral at the end of last week's game goes down as a fumble return but demonstrates the quickness with which the veteran can strike with if given an opportunity. Trestin George will likely continue his duties as the field corner after taking over the spot in Week 4 versus Calgary - he had four tackles and a stop on special teams.

Rookie kicker Sean Whyte missed just his second field goal of the season on Friday, but put through the game's winning points from nine yards out giving him eight on the season over nine attempts. Whyte continues to fill in seamlessly for the injured Paul McCallum averaging 42.2 yards per punt and 58.9 yards per kickoff. Ryan Grice-Mullen has been within inches of taking a kickoff or punt back for a major score in each of the past two games. The speedy receiver who is working his way back into the fold had a slippery 43-yard kickoff return last week.

The 2009 season has been as wild a ride as you'll find at the PNE which opens Saturday and the Lions know that a 4-4 record is a whole lot better than 3-5 with a bye week in the offing and two games versus the Montreal Alouettes to start the season's second half upon their return.

Follow the Lions daily on Twitter throughout the 2009 season! For more information on the BC Lions Football Club, please visit our website at bclions.com.

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