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Lions top Ticats in OT to reach East Final

Sun 15th, November 2009

Hamilton, ON (Sports Network) - Ian Smart's eight-yard touchdown catch in overtime proved to be the difference, as the British Columbia Lions advanced to the East Final with a 34-27 win over the Hamilton Tiger-cats in an East Semifinal playoff battle.

Casey Printers threw for 360 yards and a touchdown on 24-of-35 passing for the Lions, who will travel to play Montreal in the East Final next Sunday. It figures to be a tough matchup, as the Als finished a league-best 15-3 in the regular season, including a 9-0 mark at home.

Emmanuel Arceneaux led the team with six catches for 120 yards, while Geroy Simon added five receptions for 111 yards in the win. Martell Mallet ran for 68 yards on 11 carries for the Lions.

Kevin Glenn completed 31-of-51 passes for 437 yards and two touchdowns for Hamilton, which had missed the playoffs in each of the last four seasons and was hosting a postseason game for the first time since 2001. Drisan James had nine catches for 120 yards, and Marquay McDaniel recorded six receptions for 110 yards.

Dave Stala had two touchdown catches and totaled 54 yards on four catches overall in defeat.

BC got the ball first in overtime, and Mallet ran to the eight-yard line for a 27-yard gain on the first play. Printers hit Smart for a touchdown on the next play for a 34-27 lead.

Facing a must-score situation, Hamilton couldn't tie the game. On 2nd-and-9, Glenn was sacked for a 10-yard loss, and his desperation heave on third down fell incomplete, ending the game.

Each team traded a field goal to account for all the scoring in the first quarter. Paul McCallum's 15-yard field goal with just under five minutes left in the period put BC on the board, but Nicholas Setta responded for Hamilton with a 46-yard make in the waning seconds for a 3-3 game.

McCallum extended the Lions' lead to six early in the second quarter with a pair of field goals. The first came from 36 yards away with 13 1/2 minutes until halftime, and he kicked a 43-yarder four minutes later.

Setta brought Hamilton back to within three with a 17-yard field goal with five minutes before halftime, but the Lions finally found the end zone on their next drive.

Starting from the Ticats' 43, BC needed only three plays to score, finishing the series on Printers' 12-yard run to make it a 16-6 game, which held up going into halftime.

Setta made it a seven-point game early in the third with a 10-yard field goal, and the Ticats then tied the game with six minutes left in the period on Glenn's 28-yard pass to Stala.

BC answered with a six-play, 69-yard drive that ended in a one-yard touchdown run by Rolly Lumbala to restore the seven-point lead at the end of the third.

McCallum drilled a 33-yard field goal and added a single midway through the fourth to put the Lions ahead by 11, but Hamilton tied the game before the end of regulation.

A Setta 21-yard field goal with 2:23 left made it 27-19, and Glenn found Stala for a nine-yard touchdown to cap a 10-play drive that ended with 25 seconds left. A two-point conversion pass to McDaniel was successful to help tie the score, 27-27, and send the game to overtime.

Game Notes

This was the first playoff overtime game since the 2005 Grey Cup Final...BC had lost its final three games of the regular season, but snuck into the playoffs as the crossover team from the West after Hamilton beat Winnipeg last week...Hamilton had won both season meetings...The Lions are in the playoffs for the 13th straight season...Hamilton had won three straight at the end of the season.