Lions win franchise-best 14th game

Geroy Simon, Ian Smart and the rest of the B.C. Lions heeded coach Wally Buono's call to keep the momentum going with the Canadian Football League playoffs around the corner.

Simon amassed 211 reception yards, highlighted by a 96-yard pass-and-run for a touchdown, to lead the Lions to an eighth straightwin andfranchise-best 14thvictory of the season, 25-24 over the visiting Calgary Stampeders on Saturday night.

Simon, who battled lower back problems earlier in the season, finished the season with 1,293 yards receiving to edge Winnipeg's Terrence Edwards (1,280) for tops in the league.

"I started out slow," said Simon, who was the league's outstanding player last year. "I just kept working, kept believing and it happened."

Smart, who led the league in all-purpose yards, helped B.C. run out the clock with a couple of big runsas the defending Grey Cup championsimproved to14-3-1. The Lions had 13-win seasons in 1985, 1999, 2004 and 2006.

Buono's charges will host the West final for the fourth straight season on Nov. 18 against the winner of the Nov. 11 division semifinal between Saskatchewan and the Stampeders, who have lost six straight in Vancouver.

Calgary nearly took a chunk of momentum away from B.C. on the game's final play, but kicker Sandro DeAngelis watched the football hit the left upright onhis 52-yard field-goal attempt.

"If you want to be the man, you have to get it done in those situations," said DeAngelis in a quiet Calgary dressing room. "I came up short."

Penalty hurts Stampeders

With the Stampeders trailing 25-24 earlier in the fourth quarter, wide receiver Ken-Yon Rambo caught a pass at the Lions' 10-yard line but it was negated by a holding call assessed to offensive lineman John Comiskey. On the next play, defensive back Dante Marsh knocked down a Ben Sankey pass, forcing Calgary to punt the ball.

Calgary finishes the regular-season at 7-10-1 and without a victory outside of Alberta after winning five times at home and three gamesagainst archrival Edmonton.

"Sure we would have loved to have won [Saturday] but we did too many things bad …to win it," said Calgary coach Tom Higgins. "We'll pull some momentum out of that football game."

Simon opened the scoring early in the first quarter when he hauled in a 48-yard touchdown strike from Lions starting quarterback Jarious Jackson.

The rest of the B.C. scoring came from a safety touch and three field goals by Paul McCallum from 17, 24 and 16 yards.

Higgins chose to rest quarterback Henry Burris and running back Joffrey Reynolds, but got plenty of mileage from their replacements.

Sankey, who signed with Calgary five weeks ago following a short stint in B.C., completed 21 of 26 pass attempts for 328 yards and two touchdowns.

He erased a 12-7 Lions lead in the second quarter when he found Rambo alone in the end zone for a 30-yard strike. With the catch, Rambo moved into a tie with Saskatchewan's D.J. Flick with his 10th touchdown reception of the season.

Simonton tops 100 yards rushing

They were later joined by Stampeders slotback Jeremaine Copeland, who hauled in a pass at the back of the end zone to close to within 25-24.

Ken Simonton, a former running back in the National Football League, filled in for Reynolds and rushed 18 times for 114 yards and a touchdown.

The Stampeders' defence also stood out, sacking B.C. quarterbacks seven times and taking advantage of a Lions offensive line that played without Rob Murphy (sore knee). Fellow tackle Jason Jimenez was ejected at the end of the second quarter for rough play on defensive lineman Anthony Gargiulo.

Calgary's 17-12 lead at the half was short-lived as McCallum nailed a pair of field goals to put B.C. ahead to stay in the third quarter.

Later on, Lions third-string quarterback Gino Guidudli, who had replaced Dave Dickenson, recorded his first touchdown pass of the season. He hooked up with Simon, who outran Stampeders defensive back Crance Clemons to the end zone for a 96-yard major.

Dickenson connected on 12 of his 17 passes for 170 yards in his second game following a three-month stay on the sidelines with post-concussion syndrome.

Lions running back Joe Smith was kept out of end zone and finished the season with 18 majors along the ground, one shy of Mike Pringle's single-season record, set in 2000. But he finished the year as the CFL rushing leader with 1,510 yards from 281 carries.

B.C. slotback Jason Clermont, nominated as the league's outstanding Canadian, left the game in the third quarter with an injured right shoulder.He was flexing the shoulder in the dressing room after the game and expected to be ready for the West final.