Travis Lulay injury overshadows B.C. Lions outlasting Ottawa Redblacks for ugly 7-5 win

Rarely does a winning CFL team walk to their locker room as quietly as the B.C. Lions did on Friday night, while quarterback Travis Lulay knelt in the hallway at TD Place in pain.

The Lions gutted out a 7-5 win over the Ottawa Redblacks in the second no-touchdown slogfest in three weeks at TD Place on Friday, but the former league MVP appeared to re-injure the right shoulder that he had surgery on last November. In a contest that was delayed 21 minutes by a thunderstorm, Lulay had the ball slip out of his hand as he set up to pass in the final two minutes. In the ensuing scramble for the ball, the Lions quarterback was the last man up.

The Lions (6-4) were very tight-lipped about Lulay's condition afterward.

"We're not sure yet but he's getting evaluated," Lions coach Mike Benevides said. "We'll know more as the night goes on. You take a look at it. The ball slipped out of his hands. He went to recover it and there was a big pile. I feel bad for him. He was in some pain.

"He had done what we wanted to do," Benevides added "He had rushed the ball, he extended plays, stretched the defence. At critical points he extended drives. He gave us exactly what he wanted. Hopefully it's not as bad as everyone thinks."

Lulay had made some characteristic plays on a typical barren offensive night, converting a second-and-12 and a second-and-14 when the Ottawa crowd that waited out the heavy rain was clamouring for the Redblacks to get one last shot. He also eluded Ottawa's Antoine Pruneau late in the first half and scrambled 24 yards to set up a Paul McCallum field goal, which ultimately turned out to be the winning points.

The game was the CFL's lowest-scoring contest since 1979.

'Sick to my stomach'

That made it, from the Lions' point of view, cruelly ironic that Lulay's injury came on a play where he was not even touched by the Redblacks' pass rush.

"That made me sick to my stomach," running back Andrew Harris said. "A guy who battled back so hard and to have it go like that. He didn't even get hit. The ball just slipped. It's tough. He works so hard. Plays with so much heart. I wish him all the best and that it's something he can come back from."

Veteran Kevin Glenn, who started the first nine games, is poised to step in if Lulay's injruy is serious.

"I'm not going to deal with it just yet but that's why Kevin is here," Benevides said. "Right now we want to make sure we take care of Trav."

Walker also injured

Meantime, Ottawa also lost a key part of its offence. On the play where Chevon Walker lost a fumble at the one-yard line in the second quarter, the Redblacks running back also suffered an upper-body injury that required further evaluation. Walker could be out several weeks.

That was the first of two red-zone misfires for the Redblacks (1-9), who are idle until their Sept. 21 visit to Saskatchewan. Midway through the fourth quarter, as rain began to pelt the field, Ottawa got in range for a 33-yard field-goal try. New snapper Alex Krausnick's snap was bad; holder Danny O'Brien, unable to tee up the ball for Brett Maher, had to try a desperation pass. The Redblacks didn't get the ball back until there were 30 seconds left.

"We got to make that play but one play never wins or loses the game," Redblacks head coach Rick Campbell said. "We had other opportunities to cash in some points and we weren't able to do it and that cost us.

"We had new holder (O'Brien) and a new snapper (Krausnick) in there but they've been doing well, We knew it was rainy but that's part of the deal and we'll get it right the next time."

McCallum had some sympathy for how the elements affected Ottawa.

"I was thinking about, if it came down to us, I was going to make sure our centre would tell the officials that we had a dry ball," the 43-year-old kicker said. "That's the second time that's happened in the league this year. Hamilton had it happen, the same situation, and it was also a botched snap. Other than that, I can't remember the last time I've seen that."

Dante Marsh also squelched a first-half Redblacks march by intercepting an underthrown Burris pass. Know this much: B.C. won ugly; the win might also by Pyrrhic.

"It's a win, it's a victory," Benevides said. "I told our guys — it's kind of prophetic — Ottawa lost 10-8 against Edmonton, 15-7 [actually 11-7 midway through the fourth quarter before falling 32-7] against Calgary. They're playing their balls off. But for our defence to come with the turnovers and hold a professional football team to five points, that's the point we got to talk about."

Neate Sager is a writer for Yahoo! Canada Sports. Follow him on Twitter @neatebuzzthenet.