WINNIPEG - B.C. Lions head coach Wally Buono knew his players were fired up to get their first CFL victory, but he wasn’t expecting them to dominate the Blue Bombers.

The 1-2 Lions made the Bombers the only winless team (0-3) in the league with a 42-24 victory Friday night that included leads of 21-5 at half-time and 42-8 after three quarters.

B.C. quarterback Jarious Jackson threw five touchdown passes, two each to veteran slotback Geroy Simon and rookie receiver Clarence Coleman.

“You never envision a game like this,” Buono said. “When you look at it, a lot of guys made great plays. Jarious did a tremendous job of letting the athletes be football players and all of a sudden there’s a lot of confidence out there.

“Something like this should help everybody.”

Jackson completed 19 of 24 pass attempts and had one interception. He was replaced by Buck Pierce early in the fourth quarter with the Lions ahead 42-15. Pierce finished 1-of-4 for minus one yard.

“We had an answer for pretty much what they were throwing to us on defence,” Jackson said, adding the win was a big relief.

The Lions ended up with 508 yards total offence compared to Winnipeg’s 376 yards.

“It’s embarrassing,” said Winnipeg linebacker Barrin Simpson, a former Lion. “I take that personally. We’ve got to have 42 other guys taking that personally. We didn’t play with enough heart and we didn’t get it done.”

Simon had seven catches for 192 yards, including a 76-yard catch-and-run TD. Coleman only caught two passes, but they were TDs of 13 and nine yards. Rookie fullback Rolly Lumbala notched B.C.’s other TD with a one-yard grab.

Lions kicker Paul McCallum booted field goals of 32 and 37 yards and added a single off a missed 34-yard attempt.

The Bombers got their TDs in the fourth quarter from receiver Derick Armstrong and quarterback Ryan Dinwiddie.

Bomber starting quarterback Kevin Glenn was 9-of-17 for 86 yards and two interceptions. Dinwiddie took his place early in the third quarter and went 20-of-33 for 227 yards, one TD and two interceptions.

Kicker Alexis Serna booted field goals from 48 and 35 yards and McCallum conceded a pair of safeties to round out Winnipeg’s scoring.

B.C. rookie running back Stefan Logan, who was replacing injured vet Joe Smith (shoulder), had 18 carries for 140 yards.

“If we knew the answer to this problem, we’d all be breaking down our coach’s door to tell him what the solution is,” veteran Winnipeg defensive tackle Doug Brown said. “We’re just being out-performed in every facet right now. (The offence and defence) is working against each other it seems like out there.”

B.C. opened the second half with Simon’s 76-and three-yard TD receptions to make it 35-5 with only 4:02 gone in the third quarter.

Winnipeg had the only scoring of the fourth quarter, Armstrong’s four-yard TD catch, Dinwiddie’s one-yard TD run and McCallum conceded a safety.

The Bombers, who were often booed by the 26,735 fans at Canad Inns Stadium, will get another kick at the Lions when they travel to Vancouver next Friday.

The last time Winnipeg opened a season 0-3 was in 2005, when the squad started 0-4 under then-head coach Jim Daley.

Notes: A moment of silence and video tribute was held prior to the game for Lions’ president and CEO Bob Ackles, who passed away last Sunday. The entire Bombers squad stood at centre field for the tribute.