VANCOUVER - With the B.C. Lions up 33-5 in the third quarter, running back Andrew Harris jokingly asked Jonathon Jennings if he wanted to borrow his gloves for the next sequence.
The Lions ran a play twice in practice earlier in the week where Harris takes a direct snap and pitches it to receiver Austin Collie, who in turn throws a pass to a streaking Jennings out of backfield.
The rookie quarterback dropped it both times, but Saturday was different.
Jennings tossed four touchdowns and caught another between two defenders for a 21-yard TD in his second career start as B.C. hammered the Saskatchewan Roughriders 46-20 to snap a three-game losing streak in the club's most complete performance of the season.
"I couldn't be more humbled in this experience," said Jennings.
The 23-year-old showed the poise of a veteran, finishing 19-of-25 passing for 364 yards, while adding 40 yards on five carries.
"I said earlier in the week he's going to make plays with his feet and stretch the field with his arm," said Harris, before adding with a smile: "I wish it was like hockey where you can get assists for my flip to Collie."
Jennings, who was No. 3 on the depth chart before Travis Lulay (knee) and John Beck (pectoral muscle) went down with injuries, threw two touchdowns in last weekend's 29-23 road loss against the Edmonton Eskimos and took another big step in this one.
"The team has a lot of confidence in Jon because of the guy he is, the work ethic he has, the way he prepares," said Lions head coach Jeff Tedford. "He comes to work each day and works his hardest to do what he can do to help this team win."
The Lions (5-8) are now two points up on the Winnipeg Blue Bombers (4-10) for third in the West Division with game in hand ahead of next weekend's meeting between the clubs at B.C. Place Stadium.
B.C. came in having lost five of six, but picked up its third win over the Roughriders in 2015 to complete the season sweep. Saskatchewan (2-12), meanwhile, fell to 2-3 under interim head coach Bob Dyce.
"We didn't come to play, we didn't get it done," said Roughriders quarterback Kevin Glenn, who was 15-of-21 passing for 185 yards and two interceptions. "You've got to give B.C. credit. They did what they needed to do."
Up by 15 points at the half, the Lions put things out of reach on the first play from scrimmage in the third quarter when Jennings hooked up with Manny Arceneaux on an 82-yard touchdown to make the score 27-5 with Richie Leone's convert.
"I expect myself to go out there and make some plays," said Jennings. "Everything's not going to go perfect ... today was just one of those days."
B.C. kept pouring it on later in the quarter, with Jennings finding Arceneaux from five yards out to stretch the lead to 33-5 after Leone missed his second extra point of the day.
"That guy is something to be reckoned with," Lions defensive back Ryan Phillips said of Jennings. "For him to step up like that shows a lot of maturity."
After Jennings' TD catch, the Roughriders finally found the end zone when Keenan MacDougall recovered a blocked punt by Markus White early in the fourth quarter to make it 40-11. The two-point convert attempt failed.
Paul McCallum added a single on a missed field goal before Leone booted a field goal with 6:05 left.
Saskatchewan then got a late consolation TD on a 47-yard pass from Brett Smith to Naaman Roosevelt. Smith ran in the two-point convert before Leone hit his fourth field goal for the final points.
Jennings had the Lions up 20-5 at the half on touchdown passes to Shawn Gore and Bryan Burnham and eight points from Leone on two field goals, a single and a convert.
"You always want something to swing your momentum," said Jennings. "We've been losing a little bit and it was good to come out there and get the victory and get everybody excited again."
Notes: Arceneaux had four catches for 137 yards. ... Attendance was 24,554.
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