Any Ticat player who's been around town for the past half-decade could have said what Simoni Lawrence said late Saturday night, and meant every word of it.

"How many of those games did we lose before?" roared the veteran Hamilton Tiger-Cats linebacker, back in the saddle again, after the Ticats climbed off the mat to overcome a 15-point deficit in the fourth quarter to win 35-34 and drive yet another splintery spike through the hearts of the B.C. Lions.

"It's great when you believe in something and then it happens, just to confirm the validity."

The believe he refers to would be in each other, in what goes around comes around — indeed the Ticats lost a game in B.C. last year similar to the one they won at Tim Hortons Field Saturday night — and that every hour has 60 minutes, all of which count.

Lawrence, back from a two-game suspension, tipped a Mike Reilly pass into the hands of defensive back Richard Leonard, who'd had his struggles much of the evening, to seal the win in the final minute.

In the 10 minutes immediately prior to that, Ticat quarterback Dane Evans — who won his first game as a pro — revived an offence that had gone morbidly stiff for about 45 minutes of play. He engineered three drives for a field goal and two touchdowns, including the winner on a catch by Brandon Banks with 79 seconds left, and a 101-yard march from the shadow of the goalposts to stanch the steady flow of fans toward the exits.

Frankie Williams, who was simply brilliant all night on returns, ripped off a 57-yarder to set up Banks' second major. Williams also had an earlier 108-yard kickoff return for a touchdown and a second major on a punt return called back by another — don't get us started on that blemish, no make that full-body rash — Ticat penalty.

The Lions came in at 1-6 and by most standards of justice deserved to win this game. But teams that have stated right out loud that they're Grey Cup material as the Ticats have since, oh about late February, have to find ways to pull a few rabbits out of the other guy's hat.

They had the ball 15 minutes fewer than Reilly's offence did, surrendered miles (OK, 151 yards) of generally unimpeded Lions rushing, and so often followed one mistake with another. But, in the end, they conjured up two points with a couple of big — and rare in this game — defensive stands and an offence that found itself just in time.

This win was a lot more important than the standings would indicate, even with the 6-2 Ticats moving six points clear of the Eastern Division pack.

It added another brick to the wall of home field invincibility they've been reconstructing all year and, for the first time in 17 years, they've opened a season 5-0 at home.

But more importantly Hamilton, in its second start and third game without down-for-the-season Jeremiah Masoli, was entering a four-game run — two with the Lions, one in Ottawa and Labour Day against Toronto — against the CFL's three-worst records, a relatively soft stretch in which they need to stockpile insurance points for a September that sees them play the three best western teams. On the road.

So how the two points were gained meant little because the only relevant matter is that they were gained. There may be moral victories in some losses, but in a result-based business there are no moral losses in victories.

But that doesn't mean that this team doesn't have some flaws to address, and right away.

"We have a lot to work on, but a win is a win," said head coach Orlondo Steinauer.

True enough. And high on that list of chores would be tackling. In the new safety-oriented football world you can't really practise it any more. But through most of three quarters the Ticats were a whiff-o-matic machine, which contributed heavily to the Lions' 420 yards of offence.

Another would be penalties. Whoa, you're out-disciplined by a team that came in at 1-6? Hamilton had 14 infractions, far more costly than their official 109 yards; and B.C. just 53 yards on six penalties, four of those later in the game.

In a short second-quarter span the Ticats had Williams' punt return major called back, committed no-yards, and took an unnecessary roughness call on a convert. Arguably, that all combined for a swing of 15 points, advantage Lions. And during a Lions scoring drive to open the third quarter that traversed 80 yards in 12 plays, the Ticats were penalized on six of them.

The Ticats defence couldn't get off the field in that quarter as Evans and Co. saw the ball for only two minutes and 31 seconds. Hamilton owned the third quarter at the start of the season, but that coming-out-of intermission superiority has eroded significantly over the last five games. The staff coaching needs a little self-examination on that one.

But when a team has so many players capable of big plays, there is always the chance to overcome a bad game. And for the majority of it, this was a bad game for the Ticats. But they had two interceptions and a critical sack in the fourth quarter, and transcendent play again from Banks (137 yards plus two TDS, countering Bryan Burnham's 149 plus two) and Williams, who unleashed 202 yards in returns, as well as playing cornerback on defence. His kickoff return touchdown was the ninth league-wide this year, a CFL record.

And in the game-within-the-game that the casual observer often doesn't notice, the Ticats used five Canadians on the offensive line for the entire second half, after left tackle Ryker Mathews was injured. That was a serious source of pride on that side of the locker-room and one of the hidden things that can help win games that other people's eyeballs say you shouldn't.

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There are still 10 games left and it's probable the Ticats will need to win not-pretty again, so it's psychologically buoying for them to have done it twice in the 11 quarters since they lost their No. 1 quarterback.

smilton@thespec.com

905-526-3268 | @miltonatthespec