B.C. 40 – Edmonton 22
It’s fitting in more ways than one that the B.C. Lions laid an old-fashioned licking on the Edmonton Eskimos at Commonwealth Stadium Thursday night, drubbing their hosts 40-22.
On Retro Night, an ode to 1965 that saw both teams donning old school uniforms and cheerleaders wearing go-go boots, the Esks were an authentic throwback to a decade in which the team was mostly lousy.
Back-up quarterback Jarious Jackson made sure of that, coming off the bench for injured starter Buck Pierce in the first quarter and throwing for 362 yards and four touchdowns as B.C. won for the first time in three tries and dropped the Esks to 1-2.
It was 2-0 for the Lions when defensive back Elliott Richardson knocked Pierce out of the game 10 minutes in.
Instead of turning the momentum Edmonton’s way — Richardson put a sliding Pierce out with a questionable hit that wasn’t penalized — the Lions got rolling when Jackson came in.
Jackson hit Geroy Simon with a 45-yard pass on his first play, setting up a one-yard TD run by Martell Mallett. When Jackson connected with Simon on a 33-yard TD pass to cap an 85-yard drive three minutes into the second quarter, it was 16-0.
The only fire the Esks showed came when Ricky Ray turned a Jackson fumble into a 12-yard TD toss to Maurice Mann and then hit running back Calvin McCarty with a 23-yard swing pass for a touchdown to cap an 11-play, 86-yard drive to cut B.C.’s lead to 16-14.
But that’s as interesting as it got. First, Jackson found Paris Jackson with a 15-yard TD pass to make it 23-14. Then, he called Simon’s number again, on a 40-yard TD pass to make it 30-14, and it was lights out, retro-style.
