VANCOUVER, CANADA - OCTOBER 4: The Calgary Stampeders play the BC Lions in their CFL game at BC Place on October 4, 2025 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. (Photo by Jeff Vinnick/BC Lions)
VANCOUVER- The BC Lions are officially hot. And with Saturday’s 38-24 win over the Calgary Stampeders, they locked up their spot in the 2025 Grey Cup Playoffs. Nathan Rourke threw for four touchdowns, survived a couple of fourth-quarter interceptions that gave the visitors life and made it interesting and helped propel the home side to a fourth consecutive victory.
With that, they move to 9-7 and, for the moment, into sole possession of second place in the West, two points ahead of the Stamps and idle Winnipeg Blue Bombers. Both those teams have a game in hand. At the very least, they’ve put themselves in a position to host a game next month with two more to go in the regular season.
Finish Is The Key Word….
Rourke and company looked to be in cruise control, up 31-9 early in the fourth quarter. But as we’re sometimes reminded, football can be a funny game. Rourke threw a pair of interceptions that led to Stampeder touchdowns and closed the gap to within seven. Vernon Adams Jr. took advantage of the mistakes, hitting Dominique Rhymes and Clark Barnes.
When Adams got the ball back just ahead of the three-minute warning, you could sense the tension rising. That’s when Robert Carter Jr. clutched up with his first of two late interceptions to drive a stake through the Stamps’ comeback hopes. Zander Horvath’s 21-yard touchdown run was sandwiched between the two takeaways. Jackson Findlay also had his second interception in as many games as part of the late roller coaster.
A little close for comfort, but the finish is all that matters.
“We knew it was going to be a fight. In the CFL, there’s always that comeback theory where a team always has a chance to come back. This just builds the character of our team when things get tough,” said veteran T.J. Lee III.
“We stood up to the challenge and that’s what the matchup presented.”
As always, Rourke will own up to the miscues and not yet be satisfied. He still managed to finish 25/32 for 414 yards and threw four touchdown passes; two to Keon Hatcher Sr. and one each to Jevon Cottoy and Justin McInnis.
“Room for improvement, yeah. And those two picks are frustrating, ” said Rourke after the win.
“I think at the end of the day, you have to take the positives. Obviously, we played a good first half. We did a good job in the second half. It’s sometimes hard coming out in the second half, when they’ve made their adjustments to have that drive that we did, go down and score good, especially in a second and long. We finished, we finished well.”
Photo credit: David Friederich
It was indeed a key sequence: Hatcher’s touchdowns ended the first half and began the second half, enabling them to lap the Stampeders and open up what was their largest lead of the night before the teams traded field goals before the fourth quarter fireworks. Now the sky is the limit.
“Yeah, it’s exciting,” Rourke added.
“The way the West was shaping up early on, it was going to be anyone’s ball game. So often, that’s the way in the CFL. We’ve just got to keep plugging away. We’ve got a bye week and then Edmonton next. We’ll just keep trying to be 1-0 every week and see what happens.”
They’ll savour it for a few hours and then focus on a big return after the bye.
“Over the last number of months of the season, the guys just show up to work, believe in each other and they all want to be the reason that you win football games,” said Buck Pierce.
“As a professional athlete, that’s what you want. The defence wanted to go out there and end the game; the offence wanted to go out there and end the game on their terms. I think that our journey and our adversity have led us to a point where they’re teammates and they believe in each other. So, I think everybody in their head is like, ‘all right, we’ve got to step up.'”
Key Numbers
498- net yards for the potent Lions attack in this one. If they keep firing on all cylinders like this, they’ll be a tough out.
139– yards from scrimmage for the versatile James Butler; 97 of those through the air on six receptions.
6- sacks by the defence on Adams Jr, a pair from Jonah Tavai and one each from Mathieu Betts, DeWayne Hendrix, Deonati Williams, and Tibo Debaillie.
600– career tackles for Lee after picking up four on Saturday. That moves him past Dante Marsh into second on the club’s all-time list, a mere 145 behind Solomon Elimimian.
Quotable
“That’s good, but that’s not our goal. Our goal is to win championships. That’s the first step toward our goals. We’re going to take that and celebrate tonight and then get on to the next.”- Lee on clinching a playoff berth.
Next Up
The Lions head into their final regular season bye week before playing host to the 6-9 Edmonton Elks on Friday, October 17. Kickoff is 7:30 pm.
Our Wild Wild West game is presented by London Drugs, as we welcome a mechanical bull to the concourse and a lasso performer. The halftime show features live country music.
Tickets start at only $19 and can be secured HERE.