VANCOUVER — Nathan Rourke reminded football fans why he's one of the CFL's top talents on Saturday.
The 27-year-old Canadian quarterback threw for 324 yards with three touchdowns, and rushed for another 54 yards as his B.C. Lions opened the season with a 31-14 win over the Edmonton Elks.
"I think at the end of the day, what was the coolest for me was that, despite not playing our best in the first half at times, we rallied," said Rourke, who went 27 for 36 on his passing attempts.
"We didn't point fingers, we didn't keep our heads down like it felt like we did a lot of time last year. We just rallied and we stuck together."
The game got off to a promising start for the Lions with Rourke and his teammates steadily working the ball up the field on their first possession to give B.C. a first down at Edmonton's two-yard line.
Chase Brice came in for short yardage duty and appeared to stretch the ball into the end zone on third down. A review by the command centre, though, determined the QB went down before getting the ball across the line.
B.C. again came within inches of a touchdown early in the second frame when Rourke threaded a crisp pass to Jevon Cottoy directly under the uprights. The Canadian receiver fumbled the ball, then stared at his gloves in apparent disbelief.
By halftime, the Lions were behind 7-3.
Inside the B.C. locker room, head coach Buck Pierce had a simple message for his team.
"Just be us. Continue to finish," he said. "We were doing some things that were kind of self-inflicted. And the guys understood that we needed to ramp up our details and just focus on finishing plays, finishing drives. But I was proud of the effort.”
The Lions came alive early in the second half, stringing together a possession that ended with Rourke escaping the pocket, taking a few steps and sailing a 34-yard pass to Stanley Berryhill III in the end zone. Veteran Kicker Whyte made the convert and the Lions jumped out to a 10-7 advantage.
Edmonton had an opportunity to level the score minutes later when Vincent Blanchard lined up for a 45-yard field goal, but his kick went wide.
Rourke proved on the next possession that he's a dual threat, rushing for 13 yards on one play and 22 on another.
He capped the drive with a 37-yard lob to Berryhill under the uprights and another convert from Whyte increased the Lions' lead to 17-7 midway through the third quarter.
Rourke is a multi-talented athlete, Pierce said.
"You look at what he can do and how accurate he is, how fast he gets the ball out of his hands and is aggressive also with his legs. So I thought he had great command of the offence tonight," the coach said. "He was fantastic on the sidelines with the guys and it was awesome to watch.”
Elks quarterback Tre Ford struggled early on Saturday, going 0-for-3 on his first attempts of the game before connecting with Zach Mathias for a six-yard gain on his fourth attempt.
He finished the night with 178 passing yards, making good on 18 of his 27 attempts and throwing one interception. He was sacked twice.
"(Ford's) still learning. He gets better every time he plays and he has to play to get better," said Elks head coach Mark Kilam. "You see some of the dynamic things that he can do – he will always have that and defences have to account for that. But we’ve got to iron out the functionality of our offence on the day to day.”
Ford showed his speed in the dying seconds of the third quarter.
He darted around midfield to avoid multiple sack attempts and got a 37-yard pass off to Justin Rankin, who similarly snuck past several B.C. defenders before being felled at the three-yard line.
Edmonton opened the fourth with QB Cody Fajardo powering through traffic for his second short-yardage touchdown of the night. Blanchard sent the convert through the uprights to cut the Elks' deficit to three points.
B.C. kept pressing and launched a seven-play, 86-yard scoring drive, capped by a 17-yard pass from Rourke to Justin McInnis in the end zone.
McInnis, who hails from Pierrefonds, Que., led the CFL in receiving yards last season with 1,469.
The Lions defence got to work next with linebacker Ben Hladik picking off Ford's pass and dashing 61 yards to put his team back in prime scoring position.
B.C. capitalized with Rourke handing off to running back James Butler, who sprinted into the end zone for the home side's fourth touchdown of the night. Another convert from Whyte put the Lions ahead 31-14.
Rourke hopes the way his team rallied on Saturday can be a rallying point later in the season when they need to be resilient once again.
“We’ve just got to stay together," he said. "Every team is good, they're going to have their day. So overcoming adversity is what champions do. That's what we want to be at the end of the year.”
NOTES
Rapper Snoop Dogg performed for the announced crowd of 52,837 fans before kickoff. ... Both Pierce and Killam worked their first games as CFL head coaches. … Saturday marked the first time two Canadian quarterbacks have started and gone head to head in a CFL season opener.
UP NEXT
Elks: Host the Montreal Alouettes on Thursday, June 19.
Lions: Visit the Winnipeg Blue Bombers on Thursday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 7, 2025.
Gemma Karstens-Smith, The Canadian Press
