David Kirouac (CFL.ca)
MONTREAL- “Believe!” That was the fighting word from Micah Awe on the sidelines as they were getting the ball back in the final minute. And it worked. The 2-3 BC Lions capped off a wild and crazy fourth quarter with a Sean Whyte 43-yard field goal to walk it off and prevail 21-20 over the 3-2 Montreal Alouettes on Saturday night at Percival Molson Stadium. Now for some game takes.
Comeback Kids Snatch Victory
In his first start in over three weeks, Nathan Rourke gutted it out by surviving an early interception with the offence knocking at the door and a few uncharacteristic drops from his receivers. He hit Stanley Berryhill III for a 58-yard touchdown for an 18-17 lead with 4:52 to go. Two defensive series later, they allowed McLeod Bethel-Thompson and company to chew up the clock and set up a go-ahead field goal for Jose Maltos with 28 ticks remaining. Undaunted, Rourke hit Keon Hatcher twice and Jevon Cottoy with one second remaining- thankfully, he went down- to set up Whyte’s winning kick.
It was another night where they were plagued by penalties and missed execution, but the win column will suggest they’ll enjoy it for a night and get back to fixing those mistakes ahead of next week’s tilt with Edmonton.
“I’m feeling good. Feeling a lot better that it was a win now, not sure how I would have felt if it was a loss,” said the winning quarterback.
“I think there are a lot of things we can do better, starting with me. Good teams find a way when it’s not perfect and it definitely wasn’t perfect today. So, we’ll go back to the drawing board and get ready for Edmonton next week.”
Rourke finished his night 22/36 for 352 yards and the major to Berryhill. Rourke led the squad with 43 rushing yards and scored their first major of the night early in the second quarter.
You can’t help but also feel good for a defence that committed a few penalties and allowed a few big plays, especially early on when Tyson Philpot gave the home side a lead after the Rourke interception.
“At the end of the day, with all the mistakes you have with everything you do, football is so crazy because it will still come down to how you finish,” Awe explained.
“It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish. We had some penalties, we had some things gash us. But at the end of the day, we’re fighters. Offence, defence and special teams, we’re fighters. We’re fast and physical. At the end of the day, when it comes down to the last play, it might be the season. It just comes down to being fast and physical, because that’s what football is.”
They were indeed fighters tonight.
David Kirouac (CFL.ca)
Key Numbers
8- The number of career walk-off field goals for Whyte, Mr. Automatic.
430- Rourke and company had 430 yards of net offence as Rourke looked as healthy as can be coming off the oblique injury.
109- Justin McInnis led the way in receiving yards for an offence that was balanced when it needed to be.
8-2 The Lions boast an impressive record in Montreal dating back to the 2015 campaign. Just two defeats, which occurred in 2019 and 2022.
146– The winners committed 11 penalties for 146 yards and it nearly cost them. For a second straight week, they had a touchdown taken off the board due to an infraction. This time, it was a second Rourke major wiped out by a Jarell Broxton hold right before halftime.
Quotables
“Pretty standard in the CFL. We knew it was going to be a fourth-quarter game. We executed when we needed to execute in the end, but not nearly clean enough. Too many penalties. We’ve got to continue to look at why we’re not starting as fast as we need to start and we’ve just got to keep improving. I told the guys in the locker room after the game, no matter the result, it’s about us and our process. We’ve got to make sure we fix the things that are hurting us right now.”- Coach Pierce on the win.
“You guys have got to stop talking about that. It puts a lot of pressure on us.”- Rourke was having some fun with the content team’s reminders of the fact that they rarely lose here.
Next Up
The Lions head back on the road for a battle with the Edmonton Elks on Sunday, July 13 at Commonwealth Stadium. Kickoff is 4:00 pm PT. The 0-3 Elks host 1-2 Ottawa to wrap up week five on Sunday evening.