B.C. 37 HAMILTON 17
Travis Lulay proved that in the CFL the best defence is a good offence.
Lulay threw two TD passes and Andrew Harris scored two TDs as the B.C. Lions' offence held the ball for nearly 40 minutes to anchor an emphatic 37-17 win over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Friday night.
Lulay, the CFL's outstanding player last season, hit Harris on an eight-yard touchdown pass to open the scoring in the first quarter and extend his streak to 26 straight games with a TD toss. That gave Lulay the second-longest streak in CFL history behind Sam Etcheverry's league record of 34 consecutive contests.
But more importantly, the dominance of the Lions' offence kept Hamilton's high-powered unit - which came in averaging a league-best 30 points per game - on the sidelines.
"The best thing you can do for your defence is keep that offence off the field," Lulay said after completing 27-of-34 passing for 343 yards before giving way to Mike Reilly late in the fourth quarter. "That's a big part of why we were able to win the football game, we were able to do it for all 60 minutes.
"We talked about starting the game fast and were able to do that and maintain that momentum."
Lions head coach Mike Benevides also said that Lulay, who received the game ball, played just a day after the death of his grandmother while his grandfather was undergoing surgery. What's more, Lulay's wife, Kim, is expecting.
"There's obviously a lot of different emotions going on," said Benevides, who added only he and backup Mike Reilly knew of the passing of Lulay's grandmother. "Just to see how he performed today, he's an outstanding person of character, an outstanding leader . . . because tonight he was in total control and did an outstanding job."
Lulay's performance quieted the Ivor Wynne Stadium gathering of 26,842 watching the second-last CFL game at the 84-year-old facility that will be demolished at season's end. The CFL club will move into a new stadium in 2014 and the following year the new building will stage the 2015 Pan Am Games soccer competition.
