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B.C. Lions bounce back against Redblacks, third Ottawa team Buono's beaten

Abdul Kanneh (14) and the Ottawa Redblacks couldn't stop Shawn Gore (85) and the B.C. Lions Thursday. B.C. won 29-23. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press.)

With less than four minutes left in Thursday night's CFL contest, it looked like the B.C. Lions might lose a second-straight game for the first time this year. They trailed 23-21 on the road after a Chris Milo field goal, had the ball deep on their own 35, and the Ottawa Redblacks' defence had been playing well for most of the night. Quarterback Jon Jennings put together a nine-play, 75-yard drive that backup Travis Lulay capped with a touchdown run and a two-point conversion pass, though, and then the Lions' defence came up big to force a turnover on downs and give them a 29-23 win. That's the third different Ottawa CFL franchise B.C. head coach and general manager Wally Buono has beaten, following the Rough Riders and Renegades, and it's more evidence that he has this Lions' team in pretty good shape.

With the win, the Lions improve to 6-3 on the season and solidify their hold on second place behind the 6-1-1 Calgary Stampeders (who host Hamilton Sunday). That's a nice bounce-back victory for the Lions after a rough 37-9 thumping by those Stampeders last week, and it's even more impressive when you consider that it came in Trevor Harris' first game back at the helm for the Redblacks. Harris was as good as advertised, completing 23 of 30 passes (76.7 per cent) for 352 yards and a touchdown, but B.C.'s defence did a nice job of preventing Ottawa from turning all that yardage into too many points. Solomon Elimimian (10 tackles), Alex Bazzie (four tackles and two sacks), Craig Roh (a sack and a forced fumble) and Loucheiz Purifoy (two tackles and a forced fumble) particularly stood out.

The Lions' offence also had a good night, and a solid recovery from their poor showing against Calgary. Jennings completed just 10 of 22 passes (45.5 per cent) for 153 yards last week, but looked terrific in this game, completing 23 of 31 passes (74.2 per cent) for 289 yards and a touchdown and rushing five times for 20 yards. Lulay did very well in short-yardage packages, rushing three times for three yards and two touchdowns, and he also threw a perfect strike to Arceneaux on that two-point convert. Anthony Allen (13 carries for 76 yards) and Chris Rainey (four rushes for 21 yards, plus 92 kick-return yards and 59 punt-return yards on three attempts each) also looked strong.

This B.C. team isn't perfect yet, and last week's loss showed that. However, this bounce-back victory on the road against a good team suggests that they're resilient, and the array of impressive performances they got suggests that they're deep. They have another tough road game ahead in Toronto next Wednesday, but they'll be heading into it with confidence. If they keep playing like this, that confidence will be well-deserved.