LIONS TAKE DOWN TI-CATS SATURDAY NIGHT

VANCOUVER - Quarterback Buck Pierce threw for three touchdowns as the BC Lions hammered the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 40-10 in CFL action Saturday night.

Geroy Simon caught two of those TD passes as he surpassed 1,000 receiving yards for a team record sixth consecutive season. Simon also moved just shy of 10,000 for his career with BC.

Pierce completed 19 of 29 passes in just over three quarters of work. The Lions (8-5) posted their fourth straight win and moved into a tie for second place in the CFL's West Division with the Saskatchewan Roughriders, pending what happens when the Riders visit Montreal on Sunday.

Hamilton (2-11) suffered its sixth consecutive loss.

BC receiver Paris Jackson also caught two TD passes, the second from rookie Zac Champion late in the game as he recorded the first passing touchdown of his career. Clarence Coleman also caught a touchdown pass from Jarious Jackson as the Lions used all three of their quarterbacks.

While Pierce, Simon and Paris Jackson shone on offence, Cam Wake and the rest of the defence excelled. Wake recorded three sacks to increase his league-leading total to 18. The Lions sacked Hamilton rookie quarterback Quinton Porter, who was making his first CFL start, a whopping 10 times.

Porter began the game badly, and never got much better as he struggled to elude the ravenous BC defensive line and was intercepted twice by Korey Banks. The Hamilton QB completed 14 of 27 passes for only 144 yards.

Banks intercepted Porter's first pass attempt as it sailed over intended receiver Tony Miles. On the next play, the Lions benefitted from a roughing-the-passer penalty on ex-Leo Markeith Knowlton as he clothes-lined Pierce. The infraction moved the ball to the Hamilton 15-yard line and Pierce promptly threw to Paris Jackson in the corner of the end zone to stake BC to an early 7-0 lead.

About six minutes later, Pierce connected with receiver Geroy Simon for a 79-yard major. It was the longest completion of Pierce's career.

Hamilton finally got on the scoreboard at 6:31 of the second quarter as Nick Setta booted a 29-yard field goal, reducing the BC advantage to 17-3.

Wake gave the Lions a 19-3 just before half-time as he sacked Porter in the end zone for a BC safety. Simon's two catches for 97 years in the first half put him over the 1,000-yard mark for the sixth consecutive season.

The Lions were denied a 47-yard touchdown by a referee's premature whistle early in the third quarter after O'Neil Wilson caught a pass that deflected off the hands of teammate Bret Anderson. The official thought the ball was incomplete before Wilson made an outstanding over-the-shoulder, behind-the-back catch.

Two plays later Hamilton defensive lineman Jermaine Reid forced BC running back Stefan Logan to fumble.

But the Ticats only got the ball for one play as Aaron Hunt sacked Porter for the second time and Otis Floyd recovered. One play later, Pierce threw to Simon for a 14-yard TD. Paul McCallum's ensuing convert gave BC an insurmountable 26-3 advantage.

Porter connected with Chris Bauman for a 28-yard TD strike four minutes into the third quarter to close the gap to 26-10.

Jarious Jackson replaced Pierce with just over 10 minutes left in the game and promptly marched the Lions on a nine-play, 77-yard touchdown. He threw an eight-yard TD strike to Clarence Coleman at 8:16, enabling the Lions to go ahead 33-10.

BC general manager and head coach Wally Buono decided he had seen enough of Jarious Jackson and gave rookie QB Champion his first snaps of the regular season. With just under three minutes left in the game, Champion recorded the first touchdown pass of his career as he threw five yards to Paris Jackson.

Notes: The Lions took only one penalty  a five-yard illegal procedure infraction  while Champion was mopping up. . . .  Saturday's game marked the 75th time the BC and Hamilton have faced each other since the CFL began interlocking play in 1961.  The Lions hold a 44-27-3 edge over the Ticats since then . . . The Lions and Hamilton have strong connections. Six Hamilton players, including quarterback Casey Printers and new receiver Josh Boden, have also played for the Lions while general manager Bob O'Billovich has held management and coaching posts and assistant coach Dave Easley played and coached with BC. . . Meanwhile, a total of 42 players from both clubs graduated from the same university or junior teams.

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