Dickenson leads Lions in CFL return

The B.C. Lions have their best record in their 54-year history, a bye to the CFL West final and their No. 1 quarterback back at the controls.

Dave Dickenson stepped on the field at Hamilton's Ivor Wynne Stadium in the third quarter Friday night and hooked up with Jason Clermont for a 28-yard touchdown on his first pass to highlight a27-19 win.

Dickenson, making his first start in three months after suffering post-concussion syndrome, looked in midseason form and gave B.C. coach Wally Buono a nice problem: three healthy quarterbacks entering the playoffs.

"It did feel good to play," he said. "I was hoping to get some action before the end of the year in case you get the call when the games really, really matter. Overall, I felt all right.

"I'm not going to be as consistent as I want to be right now, because I just haven't played enough."

The Lions improved their record to 13-3-1 with their seventh straight win and will host the West championship on Nov. 18 at BC Place Stadium.

The Saskatchewan Roughriders will finish second and host a playoff game — the West semifinal on Nov. 11 — for the first time since 1988.

Simon, Clermont reach 1,000 yards

Lions receivers Geroy Simon and Clermont caught touchdown passes inthe cold rainand topped the 1,000-yard mark in receiving for the season. Simonhad five catches for 143 yards, while Clermont topped B.C. with nine receptions for 152 yards.

Running back Joe Smith also reached a milestone, rushing for 97 yards on 17 carries and now has 1,482 on the season, breaking the Lions' team single-season
rushing record set by Cory Philpot in 1994 (1,451).

Paris Jackson gave B.C. a 14-0 lead in the second quarter after hauling in a 16-yard pass from Lions starting quarterback Jarious Jackson, who completed 13 of 15 passes for 205 yards and two touchdowns before leaving late in the first half with sore ribs.

B.C. took a 17-8 lead into the half.

Buck Pierce took over, but had to leave midway through the third quarter with a shoulder injury.

That made way for Dickenson, who began the season as the Lions starter but suffered a concussion on July 13 in a game against Saskatchewan.

He finished the game, completing seven of 10 pass attempts for 124 yards, one touchdown and one interception.

Musical quarterbacks

Wally Buono, B.C.'s coach and general manager, says he isn't sure who his starting quarterback will be in the West final.

"We'll get a better sense after next week," Buono said. "If everybody's healthy, we'll have to make a choice. Right now, we just want to get next week done. We want to get guys more playing time and then we'll take the week off and we'll do what's right."

Buono was second-guessed about his quarterback choices in 2004 when then-backup pivot Casey Printers (now with the Ticats) took the Lions all the way to the Grey Cup against Toronto and won the CFL's most outstanding player award along the way.

But Printers sat out the championship game and Dickenson, back from injury, got the start. B.C. lost that game.

Printers started for Hamilton on Friday but was forced out of the game with four minutes remaining in the second quarter with an injured index finger on his right (throwing) hand. He was replaced by Richie Williams.

Running back Terry Caulley and Jason French caught touchdown passes for theTiger-Cats, who slipped to a CFL-worst 2-15.