Courtesy Canadian Press:

VANCOUVER - It wasn’t pretty but the B.C. Lions’ 25-24 win over the Calgary Stampeders Saturday was good enough to set a team record for wins and send the defending Grey Cup champions into the CFL playoffs on a roll.

“It was ugly but we accomplished everything we wanted to do,” said defensive back Mark Washington. “We played a lot of players. We did want we needed to do.”

Slotback Geroy Simon caught touchdowns of 48 and 96 yards to set a franchise reception record as the Lions earned their 14th victory of the season, the most in B.C. history.

Simon had five catches for 211 yards in the final game of the season to make him the CFL receiving leader with 1,293 yards.

It was a great ending for a season that saw Simon struggle early.

“I started out slow,” said Simon, the league’s outstanding player last year. “I just kept working, kept believing and it happened.”

The Stampeders didn’t go down without a fight. A crowd of 34,242 at B.C. Place held their breath as Sandro DeAngelis’ 52-yard field goal attempt on the last play hit the left upright.

“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.

“I felt pretty good about it, but it lost some steam towards the end.”

The Lions went into the game with first place looked up in the West. They finish with a 14-3-1 record and ride an eight-game win streak into the Nov. 18 West Final.

“We won these games in a myriad of ways,” said Washington. “Some have been blowouts, some have been tight.

“It shows that in any way possible we can come out with a win. Going into the playoffs you want that confidence.”

The Stampeders (7-10-1) couldn’t improve on third place and face the Saskatchewan Roughriders in the West semifinal next Sunday in Regina.

“Sure we would have loved to have won it but we did too many things bad not to win it,” said Calgary coach Tom Higgins. “We’ll pull some momentum out of that football game.”

Quarterback Jarious Jackson hooked up with Simon for the 48-yard touchdown on B.C.’s second play from scrimmage. It was Simon’s 523rd reception as a Lion, moving him past Jim Young.

In the fourth quarter, third-string quarterback Gino Guidugli hit Simon with a 96-yard bomb.

“Going into the game we knew we could hit them for some big plays, given the opportunity,” said Simon. “They gave us the right looks and we hit them big.”

Calgary quarterback Ben Sankey, playing in place of Henry Burris, threw touchdown passes to Ken-Yon Rambo and Jeremaine Copeland. Rookie running back Ken Simonton, playing in his first CFL game, scored on a one-yard plunge and had 114 yards on 18 carries.

“We had the game won but we just didn’t capitalize at the end of the game,” said Sankey, who completed 21 of 26 passes for 328 yards and two touchdowns.

Paul McCallum kicked field goals of 15, 17 and 24 yards for B.C.

B.C. slotback Jason Clermont, nominated as the league’s oustanding Canadian, left the game in the third quarter with an injured right shoulder. Clermont was flexing the shoulder in the dressing room after the game and expects to be ready for the West Final.

Lions running back Joe Smith was kept out of the endzone and failed to score the two touchdowns he needed to surpass Mike Pringle’s record of 19 rushing majors set in 2000. Smith finished the year as the CFL rushing leader with 1,510 yards from 281 carries.

The game meant nothing in the standings and was far from a classic.

There were 11 quarterback sacks, seven by Calgary. The teams combined for 35 penalties for 336 yards. B.C. offensive lineman Jason Jimenez was ejected for a hit from behind on Calgary defensive lineman Anthony Gargiulo on the last play of the first half.

The cheap shot upset B.C. quarterback Dave Dickenson.

“We don’t want that,” said Dickenson. “That situation didn’t need to occur.”

With no where to go in the standings, Higgins rested seven of his players, including Burris, running back Joffrey Reynolds and wide receiver Nik Lewis.

Jackson played the first quarter for B.C., completing five of six passes for 99 yards before being placed by Dickenson in the second quarter.

Dickenson, playing in his second game since missing most of the season with post-concussion syndrome, completed 12 of 17 passes for 170 yards. Guidugli went five for seven for 129 yards and the touchdown.