The St. Paul Lions defeated the Lacombe Rams 25-18 in a cold exhibition match at the Jungle on Friday night.
Jason Jubinville and Josh Pelham scored a touchdown apiece, while quarterback Brendan McKay earned two touchdowns in the Lions’ victory over the Rams.
The home team took the lead near the end of the first quarter and gained a second touchdown early in the second for the 12-0 lead. The Rams got on the scoreboard with a pass to the end zone, which the Lions followed up with a third touchdown of the night for 18-6.
The Rams earned another touchdown toward the end of the third, making it 18-12.
With around half a minute left in the third, McKay broke through the Rams’ defence for a run from near the 30-yard line, followed up by the first successful conversion of the night by Jubinville, making it 25-12. The Rams managed to score one more before the clock ran out in the final quarter but lost to the host team.
While the Rams were a big team, the Lions used speed to their advantage and gave the Rams trouble on the outside, said coach Todd Tanasichuk. The Lions played a great defensive game and put a lot of pressure on the Rams’ quarterback, he added.
“I was quite happy with everybody’s performance,” he said. “There were mistakes made out there but in general things went really well.” The match showed the Lions’ improvement at the conclusion of the spring training camp, he said.
“I think we show that we’ve got some real dangerous players out there who can on any play take it all the way for a touchdown. We’re excited to see that. We haven’t had that type of break-away speed in a while.”
The teams agreed to not use kick-offs or kick-off returns for the spring exhibition match and to allow coaches on the field during the game. The Lions used the agreement to have coaches on the field some of the time and avoided it at other points to help the team get used to regular season play.
The healthy-sized crowd in the stands braved the nearing zero degrees C temperatures bundled up on the stands with sleeping bags and blankets. Cold temperatures did not dampen spirits and the crowd chanted ‘defence’ and cheered on the team to the end of the match.
The first regular season game will be in Lloydminster on Sept. 2.
