Bakes' Game Takes | BC 10 WPG 34
The BC Lions wrap up the regular season with a 10-8 record following Friday's loss to the Blue Bombers. Photo credit: Steven Chang, BC Lions.
VANCOUVER- At the end of the day, the team with its back against the wall clutched up and prevailed. Brady Oliveira's 63-yard touchdown run on the second play of the fourth quarter gave the Winnipeg Blue Bombers their first lead of the night and they never looked back, prevailing 34-10 over the BC Lions in front of 30,833 fans at Save-On-Foods Field at BC Place on Friday.
The victory punches Winnipeg's playoff ticket for a tenth straight season. The final bracket now rests in the hands of the Saskatchewan Roughriders. Should the defending Grey Cup champs prevail over Edmonton on Saturday, they would travel here for next Saturday's Western Semi-Final. A Roughriders loss sets up another showdown between the Lions and Blue Bombers. As a result of Winnipeg's victory, the 9-9 Calgary Stampeders were eliminated from playoff contention. Now for some game takes following the regular season finale.
Salter and Lions Stall After Explosive Start
The Lions started fast, as quarterback Kaidon Salter engineered a three-play, 75-yard touchdown drive out of the gate. Making only his second career start, Salter hit Nate Demontagnac for a 36-yard major after back-to-back completions to Jermaine Jackson. The Lions led 7-0 and looked to be in the mood to play spoiler.
What followed was a comedy of errors in the rest of the first half. The Lions couldn't capitalize on either a muffed punt by Trey Vavel deep in Bomber territory or an end zone interception from Stantley Thomas-Oliver.
They led 10-3 at the break before the game turned when Dru Brown replaced an injured Zach Collaros at quarterback. On his fourth play after coming in, Brown hit Dorian Singer for a 30-yard touchdown strike to tie the game. From that point on, Winnipeg had all the momentum. Brown later connected with Nik Demski for his second touchdown pass of the game and Oliveira put icing on the cake with one more on the ground for good measure.
While not meaningful in the standings, Salter and company will still look back on it as a missed opportunity to win one for pride before next week.
" I started off good and I went downhill. That's not something I can do at this level," said the quarterback afterwards.
"I gotta stay consistent, stay with my preparation and continue to just play good and play how I know I can play."
A key moment that killed the good start came after the punt fumble recovery, when he took an 11-yard sack that helped put them out of field-goal range. The situational moments we always talk about after every game ultimately were an Achilles heel.
"I was proud of our effort tonight. I told the guys that in the locker room," explained Buck Pierce.
"They battled. They played hard. We had (new) guys running down on teams, starting on offence, on punt, starting on defence. When you watch that type of work, it's pretty inspiring to the sidelines. I'm just proud of those guys for the way that they did that. There are things to learn from this film. Hopefully, there are some big picture things, right? We're focused on things we need to do and whoever that ends up being, we're okay with."
Lorenzo Thompson of the Lions battles Willie Jefferson during Friday's loss to the Blue Bombers.
The Lions only played two regular starters on offence, while a few more key veterans sat on defence. The fact they entered the final frame tied shows a lot.
"That just defines who our coach is," added Salter.
"He prepares us; he coaches us hard. Obviously, our starters, they're all vets and they help us out throughout the week. For us to be able to execute and fight as we did just shows a lot to the BC Lions organization and how they prepare us."
Salter finished 12/21 for 171 yards, one touchdown and one interception. He didn't have the same impact on the ground as last time against Winnipeg, running for only 11 yards on two carries. Emani Bailey carried the backfield load with 69 yards on ten carries. Chris Oladokun took over at quarterback late in the third quarter and completed seven of 11 passes for 48 yards and one interception.
The Lions looked to lose key National veterans Nathan Cherry and Patrice Rene to serious injuries. Pierce didn't have any concrete updates after the game, but it didn't look too promising on either front.
Key Stats
24- Points scored by the Bombers in the fourth quarter.
11/11- Brown did not toss one incompletion after relieving Collaros. He finished with 185 yards and two majors. 287- The Lions were held to under 300 yards of net offence in this loss.
1,018- Jackson became the latest Lion receiver to surpass 1,000 yards. He led all Lions with 69 in this loss. Next Up
The real season is upon us. The Lions play host to next Saturday's Western Semi-Final at 1:30 pm PT against either Saskatchewan or Winnipeg. Tickets are available HERE. Join us for REAL TAILGATING at the Plaza of Nations, where young fans can celebrate Halloween with an early Trick-or-Treat!