Sports

Mike Reilly passed for two touchdowns and Paul McCallum booted six field goals as the BC Lions clinched first place in the CFL's West Division on Friday night with a 39-19 victory over the Edmonton Eskimos.

The Lions improved to 12-4 and earned the first-round bye in the playoffs. The Eskimos dropped to 7-9, but remained in a good position to qualify for a playoff berth, either in the West or via crossover to the East.

Courtney Taylor and Nick Moore caught Reilly's touchdown passes while Tim Brown ran in for another TD. McCallum, who was a perfect six for six on field goals, provided the rest of the BC scoring.

Cary Koch scored Edmonton's lone touchdown while Grant Shaw booted three field goals and added another point on a punt single. Edmonton's remaining points came on a safety.

The score was tied 19-19 early in the fourth quarter, but the Lions then exploded for 20 unanswered points. McCallum's fifth field goal of the game with 4:40 gone in the fourth quarter gave the Lions the lead for good.

Reilly made his first CFL career start at quarterback for the Lions in place of Travis Lulay, who was nursing a shoulder injury but still dressed.

Reilly completed 19 of 28 passes for 278 yards while Edmonton's Kerry Joseph managed to connect on just six of 24 attempts before being benched late in the game. BC's defence was too much for Joseph, sacking him eight times and intercepting him once.

Meanwhile, BC running back Andrew Harris surpassed the 1,000-yard rushing mark for the first time in his career, becoming just the ninth Canadian to accomplish the feet. In the process, Harris and Calgary's Jon Cornish became the first Canadian running backs since Edmonton's Normie Kwong and Winnipeg's Gerry James in 1956 to rush for 1,000 yards in the same season.