So with the team's usual starter Dave Dickenson out with symptoms of post-concussion syndrome, the next guys up on this playoff-bound team were Buck Pierce and Jarious Jackson. Normally second and third-string quarterbacks, they combined for four touchdowns, and engineered a convincing 28-8 win over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Saturday.

``Our guys don't panic,'' said Buono about playing without their veteran QB. ``Our coaches don't change the game plan. They just stick to what we're doing and we move forward.''

The win was B.C.'s eighth in nine games, sending the Lions (10-4) to the post-season for the 10th straight year. Hamilton's loss eliminated the Ticats (4-12) from the playoffs for the second-straight year.

Pierce started the game and completed eight of 12 pass attempts for 139 yards, two touchdowns and one interception and had 67 rushing yards, before injuring the inside of his arm with three minutes left in the first half, and up 14-0.

Jackson, a 29-year-old Notre Dame product, stepped in to throw his first and second touchdown passes of his two-year-old CFL career.

``I prepared well this week and I was ready,'' said Jackson, who saw his first game action since June. ``I told coach (when he entered the game), just be confident in what you call. Don't worry about whether it's play action, or running a drop-back. Whatever you want to do, just call the plays and let me try to execute the best of my abilities.''

Jackson completed 12 of 21 pass attempts for 180 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions. He scrambled for 15 yards.

Buono said Pierce hit a nerve near the inside of his elbow and can rest his arm for a few days before making any decisions on whether or not he's able to play next week against Calgary.

Gilles Colon, Paris Jackson, Geroy Simon and Kendrick Jones each scored touchdowns for B.C. Hamilton quarterback Jason Maas scored the TiCats' lone touchdown. Maas completed 13 of 28 pass attempts for 128 yards, with no interceptions or touchdowns. With just 48 seconds left in the game, he hit his hand on a B.C. defender while attempting to pass and was replaced by Kevin Eakin.

B.C. kicker Paul McCallum missed his one field-goal attempt from 42 yards. Hamilton kicker Jamie Boreham did not attempt a field goal. Pat Fleming recorded a punt single.

Hamilton had been looking to ride the momentum of a two-game win streak _ both against Edmonton. But head coach Ron Lancaster said his team just did too many things wrong against the Lions. They took too many roughing calls that kept B.C. drives alive. They failed to stop Simon, who had 132 receiving yards on the night. And the offence, unable to handle B.C.'s defensive line, stalled with just 181 yards of total offence.

``We fought ourselves more than we fought B.C. tonight,'' he said. ``When you need to make first downs, you better do it. When (we needed) to score, we didn't do it. When you're playing a team that's better than you, you can't help them as much as we did tonight.''

The 2006 CFL Hall of Fame inductees were honoured in the steady rainfall at halftime. Matt Dunigan, Allen Pitts, Victor Spencer, Henry (Gizmo) Williams and Bobby Jurasin were officially inducted at a ceremony on Friday.

The Lions took a 7-0 lead on their first possession of the game when Pierce hit Colon with an 18-yard TD pass less than five minutes in. Pierce's 39-yard rush on the second play from scrimmage set up the five-play, 82-yard scoring drive.

B.C. went up 14-0 early in the second quarter when Pierce hit Paris Jackson with a 16-yard touchdown pass. That score was also set up by a 29-yard scramble by Pierce.

In the third, Hamilton had two quick first downs, kick-starting a six-play touchdown drive, ending with a one-yard run by Maas and the Ticats pulled to 14-7.

B.C. came right back, with Jarious Jackson engineering a four-play 47-yard scoring drive, including a 30-yard pass to Paris Jackson, that ended with a four-yard touchdown strike to Simon. It was Jarious Jackson's first touchdown pass of his CFL career.

His second came at the end of the third with a seven-yard strike to Jones. That score was set up by a 43-yard strike from Jarious Jackson to Simon. B.C. led 28-8 heading into the fourth.

Typical of Hamilton's season, the Ticats were threatening deep in B.C. territory and got to third-and-goal with three yards to go early in the fourth, but Maas couldn't hit Kamau Peterson in the end zone and B.C. took over in front of a soggy crowd of 24,163 at Ivor Wynne Stadium.