Not all wins are picturesque — and that’s just fine for B.C. Lions quarterback Nathan Rourke.
A victory is a victory, after all.
Rourke and the Lions extended their season with a narrow 33-30 win over the visiting Calgary Stampeders in the West Division semifinal on Saturday.
“I think good teams find ways to win ugly games. And this was an ugly game offensively for us,” said the Canadian quarterback. “And it’s the greatest team game in the world for a reason.”
B.C. held a 13-point lead midway through the third quarter Saturday, but Calgary rallied to tie the game with 33 seconds left in the fourth.
Veteran Lions kicker Sean Whyte booted a 43-yard field goal as time expired to seal the win.
“We lost,” Stampeders head coach Dave Dickenson said of the result. “Some are tougher than others. It was a tough one. I think we deserved a better fate, but you know what? We still lost.
“They made the extra plays. I thought we were the better team in the fourth quarter, had our chances, didn’t get the job done, and they did.”
The Lions will now face the Saskatchewan Roughriders in the West Division final in Regina on Nov. 8.
Saturday’s victory extended B.C.’s win streak to seven straight games, and head coach Buck Pierce said he hopes the experience will help his group moving forward.
“They’re all tough. Winning at this level is hard. They’re all tough,” he said. “Hopefully, out of each game, you take a little bit of something, and we’re a couple plays smarter next week.”
The Stampeders and Lions came into Saturday’s tilt with identical 11-7 records in regular-season play, but B.C. got home-field advantage because the Lions took the head-to-head matchup with a pair of wins over Calgary.
Rourke threw for 223 yards, connecting on 16 of his 23 attempts, and contributed a rushing touchdown in the victory.
Jeremiah Masoli added a one-yard major for B.C., Robert Carter Jr. sprinted 95 yards up the field for a touchdown off a kickoff return, and Whyte made four field goals for the Lions, including the winner.
Calgary quarterback Vernon Adams Jr. amassed 334 passing yards against his former team, making good on 23 of 33 attempts.
He completed TD passes to Clark Barnes and Jalen Philpott, and Quincy Vaughn added a rushing major. Rene Paredes kicked three field goals for the Stamps, including one for 50 yards.
“It hurts. It sucks,” Adams said. “Someone had to lose. Someone had to win. It’s a good team over there. We fought our butts off.”
The fourth quarter provided a show for the announced crowd of 26,383 fans at B.C. Place, with Calgary rallying from a six-point deficit to twice tie the game.
Midway through the frame, Adams sailed a 40-yard pass to Barnes, setting the Stampeders up with a first down at B.C.’s 12-yard line. Vaughn capped the drive with a one-yard touchdown, but Paredes missed the convert, leaving the score at 27-27 with 7:46 left on the game clock.
The Lions got a crucial turnover with less than two minutes to go in the fourth when Calgary’s Erik Brooks fumbled a punt return and Kieran Poissant got to the ball inside Stampeders’ territory.
B.C. struggled to make use of the possession and relied on a 39-yard field goal from Whyte to take a 30-27 lead with 67 seconds left.
The motivated Stampeders got to work, with Adams throwing a 42-yard pass to Philpott that put Calgary within striking distance. The quarterback’s next two attempts fell incomplete, and Paredes once again evened the score at 30-30 with a 38-yard field goal.
A 28-yard pass from Rourke to Canadian receiver Justin McInnis got the Lions into field goal territory and Whyte went back to work, putting a 43-yard kick through the uprights as time expired.
Asked what he was feeling as his kicker lined up for the play, Pierce smiled.
“Utter confidence,” the coach said. “I see how they work, I see how they operate. Just confidence.”
Seeing the defence and special teams step up when the offence wasn’t posting its usual gaudy numbers showed what makes the Lions special, Rourke said.
“I think maybe we’re more well rounded than even we thought,” the quarterback said.
“I think it just speaks to the depth of our team, the belief of our team to be able to rely and trust each other … just being able to trust that the other person is going to do that job. And we talked a lot about that this week, and I think it showed on the field.”
Earlier Saturday, the Montreal Alouettes outlasted the Winnipeg Blue Bombers for a 42-33 victory in the East Division semifinal to secure a spot in the East final against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, also on Nov. 8.
The winners of the two division finals will battle at the Grey Cup in Winnipeg on Nov. 16.
-The Canadian Press-
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