Lions Beat Riders to Close Regular Season

Andrew Harris scored the game’s lone touchdown in the B.C. Lions’ 17-6 win over the Saskatchewan Roughriders in CFL action Saturday night.

Harris’ touchdown came late in the first quarter of the league’s final regular season game.

The game had no influence on playoff seeding. B.C. (13-5) had already clinched home turf for the West Division final Nov. 18. Saskatchewan (8-10) will visit Calgary in the semifinal next weekend.

Harris finished with 57 yards rushing on nine attempts and ended the season with 1,830 yards from scrimmage, becoming just the second Canadian to lead the CFL in that category.

After the Lions pinned the Riders at their own four-yard-line and the visitors went two-and-out, B.C. got the ball back at the 31-yard line. Following a completion to Shawn Gore for 12 yards, Harris ran the next play for 19 yards into the end zone at 13:50 of the first.

Paul McCallum scored the other B.C. points — three field goals, a convert and a single. With that he became the CFL’s leading scorer for the second year in a row.

Travis Lulay started at quarterback after two games on the sidelines with a sore shoulder and passed for 88 yards in just over a quarter of work before Mike Reilly came in to finish the game. Reilly went 9-for-13 for 101 yards as well as 34 yards rushing.

Third-stringer Thomas DeMarco came in with five minutes to go in the fourth and had 56 yards on 6-of-7 passing, including a 14-yard pass to Ernest Jackson that kept the drive alive. He then found Eric Moore for 19 yards with under two minutes to play that set up the final field goal.

Sandro DeAngelis had the lone points for Saskatchewan, a field goal in each half.

Saturday was Riders quarterback Drew Willy’s second career start in the CFL. J.T. O’Sullivan, the one-time San Francisco 49ers starter, took over behind centre in the second half.

Darian Durant was given the night off to rest. He suffered a helmet-to-helmet blow last Saturday but will likely be behind centre in Calgary.

Adam Bighill, B.C.’s nomination for Most Outstanding Defensive Player, had an interception and surpassed the century mark in tackles with eight on the evening.

NOTES: There were 36,357 fans at B.C. Place Stadium. … Saskatchewan won the last meeting between the clubs 27-21 on Sept. 29.