Nathan Rourke of Victoria, British Columbia has helped improve the British Columbia Lions to a record of five wins and one loss. On Friday, he completed 27 of 33 passes for 336 yards and two touchdowns, and had eight carries for 20 yards and another touchdown in a 32-17 Lions win over the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
Rourke’s rushing touchdown pulled the Lions within four as he found the end zone with a one-yard run with 15 seconds left in the first half. At the time, the Lions trailed the Roughriders 17-13.
Rourke had one passing touchdown each in both quarters of the second half. He had a 14-yard touchdown pass to Dominique Rhymes at 7:32 of the third quarter which put the Lions up 20-17, and then had a 15 yard touchdown pass to Jevon Cottoy to put the Lions up 30-17 with seven minutes and 24 seconds left in the game. Cottoy has a Canadian connection as he played his junior football with the Calgary Colts and Langley Rams.
Two more Canadians on a winning team found the end zone on the weekend. On Saturday, Winnipeg Blue Bombers wide receiver Nic Demski of Winnipeg, Manitoba had two touchdown catches in a 35-28 win over the Calgary Stampeders. He had a four-yard catch with 56 seconds left in the first quarter to tie the game at six and, had a 16-yard catch five minutes into the second quarter to put the Blue Bombers up 13-9. Demski finished the game with nine catches for 69 yards.
Meanwhile, Nate Behar of London, Ontario had a seven-yard touchdown catch for the Ottawa Renegades in a 23-13 win over the Toronto Argonauts with six minutes and 53 seconds left in the fourth quarter. He finished the game with four catches for 35 yards. With the wins, the Blue Bombers improve to 8-0, the Lions improve to 5-1 and the Redblacks won their first game of the year to improve to 1-6.