No question that the key play in this game was the fumble recovery and touchdown run by Purifoy. The Als had pulled to within 5 points as the third quarter ended. Give credit to Ronnie Yell for creating the fumble.
A second key play, was the Gaitor hit that resulted in a Montreal fumble, recovered by Bazzie, which led to a field goal. Those two plays gave or led us to 10 points.
Bedes badly shanked 12 yard punt, with penalties for an illegal punt out of bounds and a roughing penalty led to 3 more points.
Jennings first pass of the game, a long completion to Bryan Burnham put the Montreal defense on their heels. It was an aggressive play and set the early tone for the game. Jennings escaped a blitz, rolled out and hit Jeremiah Johnson for a 32 yard scamper, that led to our first touchdown of the game.
On our game clinching drive, facing 2nd and 13, after Jeremiah Johnson was tackled for a 3 yard loss, Jennings hit Iannuzzi for a 25 yard gain, read the Montreal zone coverage very well to find Iannuzzi wide open. He also threw to Rainey for a 17 yard completion and threw a 15 yd. bullet to Burnham, with tight coverage.
Montreal, attempting to come back late in the 4th quarter, gambled on third down but Glenn was sacked by Bryant Turner Junior and we took over the football at the Montreal 41 yard line, leading to our final field goal of the game.
Key Win for Leos on the Road
CFL.ca Staff
MONTREAL — Just when it seemed like the Alouettes were gaining momentum, Corbin Louks fumbled a catch from Kevin Glenn and Loucheiz Purifoy made them pay.
The first-year defensive back’s fumble recovery touchdown sealed the deal for the BC Lions in their 38-18 victory over the Montreal Alouettes on Thursday night at Percival Molson Stadium.
“It really helped us, you could really tell it took the air out of all them,” Purifoy told BCLions.com “They started getting in a groove and then all of a sudden it just shut them down.”
The Alouettes had pulled themselves within five points, after Glenn ran five yards himself into the end zone with just over two minutes left in the third quarter.
To start the fourth, Purifoy took advantage of a Montreal turnover and made his way down the field for the major score — right after he told his team it needed to create a spark.
“Right before the play happened, I was telling our people ‘We gotta make a play, we gotta make a stand,’” said Purifoy. “It just so happened the ball fell in my lap.”
The ball fell in his lap and he never looked back.
And Purifoy wasn’t the only one to find the end zone in the victory.
Emmanuel Arceneaux also scored, on a pass that Jonathon Jennings didn’t think he executed to the best of his ability.
“It wasn’t purrfect but that’s what I tell my receivers: ‘Make me look good’,” said Jennings. “Manny’s good at doing that and a lot of the other guys make it easy.”
Jeremiah Johnson was the first to score a major for BC early in the first quarter – starting the trifecta of scoring on the ground, through the air, and on a turnover for the Lions.
Jennings has faith in his team’s abilities, but knows the Lions still have some things to work on – not forgetting about last week’s 15-point blown lead late in the fourth quarter that led to their eventual overtime loss against Calgary.
“We’re a great team,” Jennings added. “Once we figure all of those little things out, we’ll be even better and be really tough to beat.”
