Nathan Rourke threw for 324 yards and three touchdowns, and the B.C. Lions opened their CFL season with a 31-14 win over the Edmonton Elks on Saturday.
“That they had some solutions, positively, for what we had been doing,” Elks head coach Mark Kilam mentioned after the loss.
“I believed we gassed out a bit bit on defence. We have to keep a number of extra drives on offence to assist these guys out. However actually there have been errors in all three phases, and we’re a 3 part soccer staff, so there’s positively issues we have to get higher at in all three phases.”
The Canadian quarterback went 27-for-36 on his passing makes an attempt, linking up with Stanley Berryhill III twice in the long run zone. Justin McInnis caught his first TD of the yr and James Butler drove in one other main.
Veteran kicked Sean Whyte contributed a 22-yard area objective for the Lions, who performed their first recreation below rookie head coach Buck Pierce.
Elks quarterback Tre Ford put up 178 passing yards, connecting on 17 of his 27 makes an attempt and throwing one interception. He was sacked twice.
“I don’t suppose we did implausible offensively,” Tre mentioned.
“I believe we had been caught in lots of second and longs, which isn’t a very good state of affairs for offence, so we’ve acquired to do higher on first down. However lots of that stuff comes again on me, proper, I’m the quarterback. I’ve to make some extra issues occur on the market for us.”
Cody Fajardo chalked up two short-yardage dashing majors for Edmonton, who even have a first-year head coach in Mark Kilam.
Rapper Snoop Dogg carried out for the introduced crowd of 52,837 followers earlier than kickoff.
The sport acquired off to a promising begin for the Lions with Rourke and his teammates steadily working the ball up the sphere to present B.C. a primary down at Edmonton’s two-yard line.
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Chase Brice got here in for brief yardage responsibility and appeared to stretch the ball into the tip zone on third down. A evaluate by the command centre, although, decided the QB went down earlier than getting the ball throughout the road.
Ford struggled early, going 0-for-3 on his first makes an attempt of the sport earlier than connecting with Zach Mathias for a six-yard achieve on his fourth try of the evening.
Edmonton acquired on the board with simply over three minutes left within the first quarter when Cody Grace despatched a 66-yard punt into the tip zone for a rouge.
B.C. once more got here inside inches of a landing early within the second body when Rourke threaded a crisp go to Jevon Cottoy immediately below the uprights. The Canadian receiver fumbled the ball, then stared at his gloves in obvious disbelief.
Whyte posted the house aspect’s first factors of the evening, booting a 22-yard area objective to present the Lions a 3-1 lead.
The Elks took management once more halfway by means of the second quarter when Fajardo muscled his means by means of site visitors for a one-yard dashing main. Vincent Blanchard missed the convert and Edmonton went up 7-3.
The rating stood on the finish of the primary half after the Elks kicker despatched a 49-yard area objective try huge within the ultimate seconds of the body.
B.C. got here alive early within the second half, stringing collectively a possession that ended with Rourke escaping the pocket, taking a number of steps and crusing a 34-yard go to Stanley Berryhill in the long run zone.
Whyte made the convert and the Lions jumped out to a 10-7 benefit.
Edmonton had a possibility to stage the rating minutes later when Blanchard lined up for a 45-yard area objective, however the kick once more went huge.
Rourke proved on the following possession that he’s a twin menace, dashing for 13 yards on one play and 22 on one other.
He capped the drive with a 37-yard lob to Berryhill below the uprights and one other convert from Whyte elevated the Lions’ result in 17-7 halfway by means of the third quarter.
Ford responded with some quick ft of his personal within the dying seconds of the third quarter. The 27-year-old Canadian deftly darted round midfield to keep away from a number of sack makes an attempt and acquired a 37-yard go off to Justin Rankin, who equally snuck previous a number of B.C. defenders earlier than being felled on the three-yard line.
Edmonton opened the fourth with Fajardo powering by means of site visitors for his second landing of the evening. Blanchard despatched the convert by means of the uprights to chop the Elks’ deficit to a few factors.
B.C. stored urgent and launched a seven-play, 86-yard scoring drive, capped by a 17-yard go from Rourke to McInnis in the long run zone.
McInnis, who hails from Pierrefonds, Que., led the CFL in receiving yards final season with 1,469.
The Lions defence set to work subsequent with linebacker Ben Hladik selecting off Ford’s go and dashing 61 yards to place his staff again in prime scoring place.
B.C. capitalized with Rourke handing off to working again Butler, who sprinted into the tip zone for the house aspect’s fourth landing of the evening. One other convert from Whyte put the Lions forward 31-14.
A large 92-yard kickoff return by Javon Leake seemed to chop Edmonton’s deficit halfway by means of the fourth, however Elks linebacker Josiah Schakel was referred to as for an unlawful block on the play.
NOTES
Lions linebacker Jeremy Lewis (hamstring) and defensive lineman Deshawn Stevens (foot) didn’t return for the second half. … The sport marked the primary time two Canadian quarterbacks have began and gone face to face in a CFL season opener.
UP NEXT
Elks: Host the Montreal Alouettes on Thursday, June 19.
Lions: Go to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers on Thursday.
© 2025 The Canadian Press
