It’s a result that will leave the players, coaches, and no doubt the fans scratching their heads. The BC Lions dropped their fifth straight, a 31-29 overtime heartbreaker, to the hometown Toronto Argonauts to drop to 4-7 on the season. The win for Toronto (7-4) assures them of a playoff berth in the highly-competitive East Division. Now for some game takes from Matt Baker following a crazy night in Toronto.
Whacky Finish Vintage CFL
Not sure where to start with how this one concluded. You could talk about the three Jimmy Camacho missed field goals in the fourth quarter- the final two of them coming in the last 53 seconds- that resulted in two singles and not a victory in regulation time. After review, the second attempt from 50 yards out was tipped at the line of scrimmage. Still a very bitter pill to swallow.
There was the bizarre clock management by the Argonauts that gave Camacho the final chance to win it in regulation with no time left. The rain and field conditions toward the end of it were a major factor as well. Yet at the end of the day, there was a chance to execute in the overtime session to make everyone forget about those missed opportunities.
After a Marcus Sayles pass interference call in the end zone, Toronto opened the mini-game scoring on a quarterback sneak by Antonio Pipkin and went up by eight on the successful two-point convert. On the Lions’ possession, Michael Reilly connected with Jacob Scarfone on a 32-yard catch and run to give them a chance to extend it.
Reilly’s pass to Shaq Johnson on the conversion attempt was incomplete to seal a whacky Saturday night at BMO Field. This one will no doubt sting. But believe it or not, destiny remains in the Lions’ hands. They will likely need to run the table in order to keep their playoff hopes alive.
Offensive Weapons And Defensive Gamebreakers The Key
It’s hard to think of anything else besides how this game ended, but it also could have gotten ugly early. McLeod Bethel-Thompson’s touchdown strike to DaVaris Daniels gave the Argonauts a 10-0 lead before the end of the first quarter. You were probably thinking: here we go again. Yet the Lions got back into it on the strength of their passing attack as Reilly responded with touchdown passes to Bryan Burnham and Dominique Rhymes.
Having Rhymes contribute big- six catches for 68 yards- is something the team must be happy about especially after all the attention was on Lucky Whitehead making his return. Whitehead finished with just a pair of catches for 20 yards. Contributions from all of these key playmakers will be even more important over the final three games.
The other touchdown of the game came on Obum Gwacham’s interception return to put them ahead 21-20 late in the third quarter. Kudos to Bo Lokombo for making the deflection and to Gwacham for grabbing it before it hit the ground. Lokombo, TJ Lee and Jordan Williams had solid efforts in this loss. Lokombo had a pair of sacks to go along with nine defensive tackles.
Key Numbers
364- total offence recorded by Reilly and company in the losing effort.
96- Burnham’s receiving yards in this one, his second-highest total of the season. He is now just 31 yards shy of Mike Trevathan for fifth on the Lions’ all-time list.
35:02- the Argonauts’ had the clear edge in time of possession in this one and it proved to be a major difference in the end.
Quotables
“We need everybody to make plays. These games come down to literally one or two plays and so we needed to make a few more plays, including him and other people and me making calls, all that stuff. It’s all on us together to find ways to make more plays.”- Rick Campbell on the missed field goals.
“Certainly the situation we’re in, on a long losing streak and playoff seeding getting finalized in three more games, we have to take advantage of our opportunities. We’re not eliminated. We still control everything, It’s in our hands. But these next three weeks when we get chances, we’ve got to make all of them.”- Reilly on the race with three games to go.
Next Up
The squad boarded a bus to Hamilton immediately following Saturday’s contest and will prepare to battle the Tiger-Cats on Friday, November 5th at Tim Hortons Field. Kickoff is 4:00 pm with the AM730 and Lions Radio Network pregame show underway at 3:00 pm.