Geroy Simon's 33-yard touchdown catch in the final minute led the B.C. Lions to a stunning 37-34 victory over the Saskatchewan Roughriders Saturday night in Regina.

Trailing by four points with 34 seconds remaining, Simon raced behind defensive backs Rontarius Robinson and Tristan Clovis to haul in the scoring pass and silence a shocked Mosaic Stadium crowd.

Geroy Simon snares the winning touchdown pass over Riders safety Tristan Clovis Saturday night in Regina.
(Troy Fleece/Canadian Press)

Bothered by a back injury through most of the season, Simon finished the game with 151 yards on eight receptions, while quarterback Jarious Jackson threw for 256 yards and three touchdowns.

Simon's heroics allowed the Lions (8-3-1) to remain on top of the West Division, three points ahead of Saskatchewan (7-5).

Running back Joe Smith was also outstanding for B.C., gaining 93 yards on the ground and scoring a pair of touchdowns. The CFL's leading rusher surpassed the 1,000-yard mark for the season on his first carry of the game. 

The victory also clinches the season series for B.C., which won three of the five contests.

Jackson, who started his fifth straight game, said he never lost his confidence even when the Lions were down by more than a touchdown in the third quarter.

"I never quit on myself," he said. "I was telling the guys in the huddle, 'we're a couple of scores away.' We've just got to make some plays here and there, and put them in a situation where their backs are against the wall."

Buono applauds QB

Lions coach Wally Buono liked the poise his QB displayed late in the game.

"You have to give credit to Jarious," he said. "I thought he kept his composure very, very well, late in the game to make those kinds of throws. I give him a lot of credit."

Despite received a great performance from quarterback Kerry Joseph, Saskatchewan lost its third straight game. Joseph hit nine different receivers as he finished with 354 yards through the air and contributed four touchdowns, including two rushing majors.

"We don't believe in 'we should have won the game,'" said Roughriders head coach Kent Austin. "If you don't make plays when you have opportunities to make plays, you don't deserve to win — period. We had opportunities to make plenty of plays in the second half to put the game away, and we didn't."

Broken tackle

Facing a deficit through most of the night, B.C. cut Saskatchewan's lead to 24-22 at 5:06 of the third quarter on Smith's 16-yard TD run. Smith broke a tackle by linebacker Reggie Hunt en route to his 25th touchdown in 26 career games.

The Lions almost gave the game away moments later after electing to go for an ill-advised third-and-one on their own 15-yard line. Jackson attempted to push his way past the first-down marker, but linebacker Mike McCullough prevented him from getting there with a solid tackle.

McCullough's stop set up Joseph's two-yard run to give Saskatchewan a 31-22 advantage.

TD catch

The Lions refused to go away, drawing within two points again when receiver Jason Clermont broke in front of Riders defensive back Sean Lucas and snared a five-yard TD catch at 5:59 of the fourth.

Kicker Luca Congi's 25-yard field goal with less with six minutes remaining extended Saskatchewan's lead to 34-29. But B.C. kicker Paul McCallum added a single off a punt before Simon won the game in the dying moments.

"We just got to step up and make those plays, and not wait for the next person to do it," Joseph said. "We've got to come together collectively."

The Riders appeared headed for an easy victory after putting the first 15 points of the contest and closed the first half leading 24-15. Joseph, Michael Washington and Andrew Fantuz scored TDs for the Riders, while Smith and Cory Rodgers replied for B.C.

Tempers boiled over in the closing moments of the second quarter when the teams got involved in a skirmish following a loose ball.

While Rodgers was ejected from the game for fighting, B.C. offensive guard Sherko Haji-Rasouli escaped the same fate, despite throwing several punches and knees to the head of Scott Schultz and ripping the helmet off the Saskatchewan defensive tackle.

With files from the Canadian Press