The BC Lions improved to 6-1 on the season and did so in historic fashion. On more than one front. With their 27-0 blanking of the Edmonton Elks, they became the first team to record two shutouts in the same season since the 1970 Calgary Stampeders and the first to shut out the same opponent two times in the same season. With a 21st consecutive home loss, the Elks also set a new North American pro sports record previously held by the 1953 St. Louis Browns. Now for some game takes following another stellar outing.
Take A Friggin’ Bow, Defence
They have gone nearly 12 full quarters without allowing a major and have held the opposition to under double digits in four of their six wins this season. In this latest masterpiece, they didn’t allow the Elks to cross their 54-yard line until the fourth quarter. Pretty darn good if you ask us.
They made life hard for quarterback Taylor Cornelius, limiting him to 16 completions on 30 attempts for only 187 yards. Bo Lokombo and Garry Peters made fourth-quarter interceptions to put the exclamation points on the performance.
Rick Campbell wanted to credit the entire team, not just his all-world defensive unit.
“I was proud that they played for all 60 minutes and on all three phases,” said the head coach.
“That stands out because it’s a shutout but that’s a function of number one, our defence, but also our offense and tour special teams played a complete game. We talked about how we can make this game about ourselves and play the game for 60 minutes. So I was proud of our guys from the start all the way to the end.”
“It was a performance where we had to put the effort in from the moment we stepped on the field from the time we stepped off,” said Manny Rugamba who recorded a sack in the victory.
“Our offence did their job to take care of this and you know, we’re just trying to put one foot in front of the other and we came out on top.”
The defensive unit definitely feeds off one another and it carries over from practice to game time.
The Big Moment
Overall, it was a pretty solid outing for Dane Evans in his first official start as a Lion. Evans and the offence came out firing as the quarterback completed his first eight passes of the game for 118 yards. Yet the visitors only led 6-0 mid-way through the second quarter before getting a new life when Edmonton was flagged for roughing the kicker. With a fresh set of downs, Evans would eventually find Justin McInnis for a 23-yard score to make it a 13-0 game. They then took a 16-0 lead to the locker room at halftime.
“We really needed that,” said Evans of the first major of the night.
“It was a look we thought we would get all week. It was a great call by (Jordan) Maksymic. And as you said, that kind of got us going. We drove it down early and had to settle for some field goals. Our standard is touchdowns every time, so it was to kind of take that lid off and get rolling.”
Evans finished his night 25/32 for 330 yards and two touchdowns. His second major of the night went to running back Taquan Mizzell to put them ahead 23-0 in the third quarter.
Mizzell was a force out of the backfield with 117 rushing yards. A night to be proud of for the entire offence.
“Just unreal, man. I mean he’s so special with the ball in his hand,” said Evans of his running back.
“You saw we threw it to him a couple of times, ran with him obviously, but him and the o-line, they’re real special and they feed off each other. It’s really cool to be back there and see them do that.”
More Key Numbers
147- Mizzell’s yards from scrimmage total in the win.
94- a game-high in receiving yards for Alexander Hollins. He nearly had an opening drive touchdown on a ball that was just overthrown by Keon Hatcher when the offence attempted some trickery.
425- the Lions’ net offence in the win compared to just 219 for the Elks.
177- Penalty yards by the Elks on 13 total infractions. Not the recipe for success.
94- total points allowed by the Lions in seven games.
Next Up
A quick turnaround for the squad as they prepare for round two with the 5-2-0 Winnipeg Blue Bombers on Thursday at IG Field. Kickoff is 5:30 pm. The second-place Bombers had a bye this week.