THE CANADIAN PRESS
CFL.ca Staff
#FNF
VANCOUVER — Ricky Ray threw two touchdown passes and Chad Owens scored a 38-yard touchdown in his return, as the Toronto Argonauts earned a 40-23 win over the BC Lions on Friday night at BC Place.
LaVon Brazill, Curtis Steele and Steve Slaton also scored while Swayze Waters added three field goals for the Argos, who appear to have their season back on course after winning their first road game of the season, and their first in BC since 2002.
Kevin Glenn threw two touchdown passes for the Lions and Emmanuel Arceneaux scored his seventh touchdown of the season, however it wasn’t enough as the Lions saw their two-game winning streak snapped. Arceneaux had 102 receiving yards on eight catches in the loss.
Ray meanwhile is starting to look more like the quarterback of old, throwing for 284 yards on 24-of-33 passing. His favourite target was Owens, who returned to action with a game-high 117 yards on eight grabs, including his third touchdown of the season.
The Argos’ penalty troubles picked up from last week on the game’s opening possession, as a pass interference call on Brandon Smith gave BC a fresh set of downs well into Argo territory.
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Related: Argos vs. Lions |
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» View Game Stats |
Another penalty for defensive holding put the Lions closer in scoring range, but the Lions squandered the opportunity on the next play when Alex Suber jumped in front of a Glenn pass to get the Argo defence out of a jam.
The defences forced two punts after that, then after a punt single the Argos managed three more points on a 53-yard field goal by Waters.
Late in the first the Lions got themselves into some penalty trouble, starting with a 15-yard facemask after a punt. Another 15-yard roughing the passer penalty moved the Argos upfield again, giving them 30 yards of field position to end the first quarter.
On the first play of the second quarter, Ray hit running back Slaton in the open field for a 15-yard pickup. The veteran pivot took a deep drop-back and went for the end zone on the very next play, going to the back of the end zone for Brazill.
A week after two costly fumbles against Calgary, the first-year Argo went aerial and beat two defenders to the ball to score the game’s first touchdown. The penalty-aided drive extended the Argos’ lead to 11-0 early in the second quarter.
The Argo offence went back to work after the Lions added a single point, as Andre Durie took off for a first-down run on an end-around. Ray then connected with Brazill, who continued to impress, juking past defenders for a 17-yard game into Lions territory.
On the next play Ray went to his go-to guy Owens on his patented corner route, hitting the Argos’ leading receiver in stride over the shoulder for a 38-yard touchdown to extend Toronto’s lead to 18-1.
The Lions needed a response, and they got one. A facemask penalty against the Argo kick team gave the Lions solid starting field position, before completions to Shawn Gore and Bryan Burnham quickly put the offence in the red zone.
Glenn then went straight to the back of the end zone, hooking up with Arceneaux for a 20-yard touchdown reception – his seventh of the season to cut the deficit to 18-8.
BC had a chance to draw even closer before halftime, but Paul McCallum missed his second field goal of the night after missing just two kicks all season previous to that. Waters added another three-pointer for the Argos on their final possession of the half, sending the Argos to the locker-room with a 21-9 lead.
| Vintage Ricky |
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With his top weapons back in the lineup, Ricky Ray is looking like the top quarterback in the CFL again. In back-to-back road games he’s completed 57 of 71 passing attempts (80.3%) for 622 yards, six touchdown passes, and just one interception. |
After the Ray-led Argo offence amassed 277 net yards in the first half – more than the Lions surrendered over the duration of each of their two previous games – the Boatmen came out flying to start the third quarter.
A 15-yard unnecessary roughness penalty after a first down moved Toronto into scoring territory, then from the 29 Slaton capped off a five-play scoring drive with a burst up the middle and a cut to the outside for seven. That extended the Argos’ lead to 28-9 early in the third quarter.
After misfielding a punt and surrendering a safety, the Lions got the ball moving with 10 minutes left in the game when Andrew Harris found space along the sideline and moved the offence into Argo territory. Glenn then stood in and took a hit, finding Arceneaux for a 17-yard gain.
It took a third-down play, but Glenn finally found Burnham behind coverage in the end zone for a 17-yard touchdown, cutting the Lions’ deficit to 14 points with the veteran pivot’s second touchdown toss of the night.
But with last weekend’s dramatic loss to the Stampeders, during which the Argos surrendered a 26-point first-half lead, the Boatmen weren’t going to take any chances on this occasion. Ray scrambled out of trouble and found Owens downfield for another big gain, eventually setting up Waters’ third field goal of the night from 49 yards out to make it a three-score game.
The Lions added a late touchdown on a quick scoring drive that finished with a one-yard sneak by John Beck, but it was too little too late. They failed to recover the onside kick, then Curtis Steele added a last-minute touchdown run to put the game out of reach.
BC never got to running the football downhill, as Harris and Stefan Logan combined for just 11 carries on the night after the Lions trailed early. On the other hand, the Argos’ offensive performance was impressive, given the 40-point effort against a defence surrendering under 20 points a game entering Friday night’s action.
The win, which the Argos led from wire-to-wire, was an important one for a team finishing off a four-game road swing. They now move into first place in the East Division with their fourth victory of the season and third against a West Division opponent, and will prepare for a crucial six-game stretch that includes five matchups with Eastern rivals.
Five of those six games will also be on home turf, including next weekend’s meeting with the Eskimos at the Rogers centre that begins a four-game home stretch.
The Lions meanwhile drop their first game of the second half of the season while falling below .500 at BC Place. They’ll look to get back to their winning ways with a marquee matchup against the Stamps at McMahon Stadium next Saturday night.
