British Columbia Lions 45 Calgary Stampeders 45 (August 17, 2007)
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0 commentsAfter leading the Calgary Stampeders to a thrilling 45-45 tie against the British Columbia Lions Friday night, quarterback Henry Burris says he wants a memento to mark the occasion.
"When I took off I told myself, 'Hey I'm getting into end zone despite whatever happens,"' said Burris, who capped off a 10-yard run by lunging forward and slamming the ball to the ground across the goal line, his third touchdown of the game coming in overtime. "I actually did the Michael Jordan impersonation there and held the ball like I was going to slam dunk it. If somebody got a picture of that, if they can send it to me, I'd appreciate it."
The Lions then responded with two straight touchdowns as Jarious Jackson tossed a 47-yard pass to Paris Jackson before Joe Smith dived into the end zone for a two-yard score.
On their final possession of the extra frame, Burris shoveled a quick pass to Joffrey Reynolds, who ran the rest of the way for a 15-yard TD to tie the contest and send the 30,826 fans at McMahon Stadium home happy.
"Once I knew Joffrey got the ball and he turned up, I knew it was six points," said Burris, who completed 28-of-37 passes for 362 yards and three TD passes.
After carrying the ball just four times for 20 yards during a 30-18 loss to Montreal last week, Reynolds rushed for 87 yards on 18 carries and added 55 yards on five catches.
"Going into the break, a loss would have been a sour note especially as hard as we played tonight," said Reynolds referring to the fact that Calgary doesn't play again until their annual Labour Day game against the Edmonton Eskimos at home on Sept. 3.
"It's good to get some glory out of it. It's not what we wanted. The effort was there and you really can't ask for much more than that."
Burris also rushed for a pair of one-yard scores and completed TD passes to Jeremaine Copeland and Nik Lewis. Kicker Sandro DeAngelis added a 29-yard field goal.
Starting B.C. quarterback Buck Pierce tossed a pair of touchdown passes to receiver Jason Clermont and another to Tony Simmons.
"It was a big point for us on the road," said Clermont, who caught seven passes for 84 yards. "We moved the ball when we had to and we had a couple of chances to win."
Smith also rushed for an 18-yard score in the fourth quarter before his TD in overtime.
"A lot guys stepped up for us tonight," said B.C. coach Wally Buono, who had to replace Pierce at quarterback after the starter went down with a shoulder injury late in the game. "Both Buck and Jarious were great. We did great things offensively but did not finish defensively."
With the tie, the Lions now have a 5-2-1 record, while the Stamps sit at 3-4-1.
"It was the CFL at its best - back and forth and people making plays," said Calgary coach [[Tom Higgins]. "It was just fitting that it ended in a tie. For both teams to score touchdowns (in overtime), that's a credit to the offenses that they were able to still operate on a pretty high efficiency level even after playing three hours of football."
The Stampeders jumped out to an early 7-0 lead after Burris capped off a five-play, 59-yard drive by plunging into the end zone from one yard out. On the drive, Reynolds carried the ball three times for 30 yards, while Lewis caught one ball and scrambled for a 28-yard gain.
The Lions responded right away to tie the score as Pierce engineered an 11-play, 80-yard scoring drive. He capped off the drive by completing an eight-yard touchdown pass to receiver Clermont.
With just six seconds to go in the first quarter, the Stamps regained the lead when DeAngelis kicked a 29-yard field goal.
Just three plays after Ryan Phillips picked off an errant pass by Burris to record his league-leading sixth interception, Pierce tossed a 13-yard TD pass to Clermont to put the Lions up 14-10.
The Stamps then completed an impressive eight-play, 80-yard scoring drive capped off by Copeland's fourth touchdown of the season.
Late in the first half, Smith rambled 18 yards across the goal line to cap off a five-play, 67-yard scoring drive to put the Lions up 21-17.
The see-saw battle continued in the third quarter as Calgary regained a three-point lead when Burris scored his second one-yard TD of the game.
Once again, the Lions responded as Pierce tossed a 30-yard pass to Simmons in the Calgary end zone before Paul McCallum kicked a 28-yard field goal.
With 40 seconds left in the game, Lewis hauled in a seven-yard touchdown pass from Burris to tie the game at 31-31 and send it into overtime. >
Notes: After missing last week's loss in Montreal with a knee injury, Calgary receiver Marc Boerigter was a healthy scratch for the Stamps...Punter Duncan O'Mahoney started in place of Burke Dales on a one-game trial...Lewis caught eight passes for 120 yards to pass the 4,000-yard receiving mark for his career. Meanwhile, fellow Stamps receiver Brett Ralph made three catches for 36 yards to pass the 1,000-yard mark.
courtesy of cfl.ca
Date
August 17, 2007
