KELOWNA- The Calgary Stampeders spoiled round one of the Touchdown Kelowna party, fending off a fourth-quarter comeback attempt by the BC Lions and prevailing 41-33 in front of a sold-out crowd of 19,108 at Save-On-Foods Field at the Apple Bowl. For the 0-3 Lions, it was the same old story of a flat start and unfortunate lapses in execution, namely on special teams and overall discipline. The opportunistic Stamps were full marks in earning their first victory in the young campaign. The Lions have dropped three straight to start a season for the first time since 2019. With more, we present our Game Takes recap.
Same Old Story Does Them In
The Lions trailed 24-14 at halftime, due in large part to a couple of big miscues. In Calgary’s opening series of the game, it was a Riley Pickett offside penalty that gave Vernon Adams and the Stampeders new life and ultimately led to a Deidrick Mills major. After the Lions had gone ahead 14-10 on Nathan Rourke touchdown strikes to Zander Horvath and Jermaine Jackson in the second quarter, the Stamps answered with a Jalen Philpot score. Then they got a gift on a fumble by Silas Bolden on the ensuing kickoff. That one took the air out of the vibrant Kelowna crowd.
The 14-0 run in the final three minutes of the opening half can likely be pointed to as a big turning point on a night that began with plenty of excitement and enthusiasm at the club’s first regular season game in the Okanagan.
Rourke also threw a red zone interception with the Lions trailing 7-0 in that topsy-turvy first quarter. The film study won’t be a pleasant watch, but perhaps a few days of practice in Kelowna, away from the regular routine, will prove to be beneficial. But the turnaround has to start now.
“We did a good job answering at times,” Rourke said afterwards.
“Ultimately, we just didn’t do it consistently enough. Hats off to VA, I thought he played very well. Obviously, we had to do a better job just finishing drives and we left some things out there. I’ve got to do a better job holding the ball, I took too many sacks today and we’ve all got things to learn from.”
To a man, they all know they have to look themselves in the mirror and do what’s necessary to make things right before they lose more ground in this tight West Division.
“There’ll be some good games and some bad games, “said Mathieu Betts.
“For us, it’s to keep going, keep working out what we’re doing, keep understanding how to feed off of each other, keep working hard and that’s when good things are going to happen for us. The result speaks for itself. We haven’t won a football game and when you start 0-3, you’re making things hard on yourself. We’ve just got to keep going, roll our sleeves up and be ready for next week.”
The second half saw Adams and company capitalize on more Lion mistakes, as Adams hit Tevin Jones for a 56-yard touchdown and Tyriek McAlister returned a 90-yard punt for a major to all but make it curtains. Rourke threw a fourth-quarter touchdown to Hergy Mayala, while Horvath added a second on the ground. Too little, too late against an equally desperate opponent.
“That’s a really good defensive line,” added Rourke on the Stampeders.
“Those guys were humming today. They got Flo (Florian Orimolade) back, which is a huge add for them. When you get down and you’re in passing situations, they can really tee up in pass rush. That’s certainly to their advantage. We’ll look at it. I think at times I was holding the ball and I’ve got to get rid of it. As much as I hate throwing the ball away, especially in the CFL, I think you’ve got to do that sometimes. I think that’s something I have to improve on as a quarterback, at this point.”
Key Stats
462- Rourke’s passing yards in this one. During the first half, he established a good connection with Keon Hatcher Sr. and also caught a 22-yard pass from Hatch during a series that led to a field goal.
479- Like last week in Hamilton, the Lions had a big edge in net yards. The Stamps, by comparison, only had 288.
118- The Lions had over 100 yards on ten penalties, a few of them very costly as we talked about.
4– the number of sacks by Calgary’s defence.
Next Up
Round two of Touchdown Kelowna, presented by Okanagan College, goes down next Saturday, July 4 against the Edmonton Elks. The Green and Gold are 3-0 to start the season, following an impressive 23-18 victory in Winnipeg on Thursday night.
Matt Baker: mbaker@bclions.com