Beck fills in for injured Lulay, leads Lions to win over Alouettes

The BC Lions inched closer to the .500 mark with a win over the Montreal Alouettes on Thursday.

In the final moments of the first quarter, Lions starting quarterback Travis Lulay was taken down by Alouettes linebacker Kyries Hebert. Although Lulay later appeared on the sidelines in full equipment after being evaluated by the team's medical staff, he did not take the field for the remainder of the game.

And so, John Beck took over and performed admirably. The 34-year-old - who had six touchdown passes and zero interceptions in his two-year CFL career - seized the opportunity in front of him, as he promptly found Lavelle Hawkins for a catch-and-run TD in the waning seconds of the first quarter.

The touchdown was the first of Hawkins' career north of the border.

The second quarter saw the Als get on the board with a pair of field goals courtesy of rookie kicker Boris Bede. However, Beck applied additional pressure on his opponents by hitting Andrew Harris for a short run, getting the Lions within scoring range. Beck then found Austin Collie in the end zone and BC went up 17-6.

Beck - who had not thrown an interception in 69 passing attempts - was picked off by Montreal corner Jonathan Hefney in the third quarter.

The Alouettes' defense kept the team in the game, as Dominique Ellis was responsible for Beck's second interception of the day.

However, the opportunity to threaten BC's lead was squandered when Als QB Tanner Marsh threw his fourth pick of the game.

With this play being the nail-in-the-coffin for the Alouettes, the Lions record improved to 4-5 - stopping a two-game slide.

The victory moved the British Columbian squad into playoff position - 3rd place in the West Division.

The Alouettes entered Thursday's matchup riding a two-game winning streak. After this loss, their record stands at 4-6, as they currently sit at the bottom of the East.