For the third time this season, Nathan Rourke of Victoria, British Columbia broke the Canadian record for most passing yards by a Canadian quarterback in a Canadian Football League game. On Saturday at McMahon Stadium in Calgary, Alberta, Rourke had 488 yards for the British Columbia Lions in a dramatic 41-40 win over the Calgary Stampeders.
This is the third time this season that Rourke broke the record for most passing yards by a Canadian quarterback in a Canadian Football League game. He had 436 yards in a 44-3 Lions win over the Toronto Argonauts on June 25, and then 477 yards in a 46-14 Lions win over the Edmonton Elks on August 6.
On Saturday, Rourke completed 39 of 52 passes and had two touchdown passes and two interceptions. He also had eight rushing yards and two touchdown runs. Rourke’s first touchdown pass was to Dominique Rhymes for 30 yards at 3:44 of the second quarter, which pulled the Lions within nine points at the time (20-9 Calgary). Rourke then had a 53-yard touchdown pass to Bryan Burnham with seven minutes and 22 seconds left in the fourth quarter which pulled the Lions within three points at the time (33-30 Calgary).
Both of Rourke’s touchdown runs were for one yard. The first came with 2:45 left in the first half to pull the Lions within a touchdown (23-16 Calgary) and the second came with 2:41 left in the fourth quarter to pull the Lions within a field goal (40-37 Calgary). At the end of the game with five seconds left, Lions kicker Sean Whyte of White Rock, British Columbia made a 25-yard field goal to give the Lions the one-point win.
On the season, Rourke now has completed 226 passes in 282 attempts for 2906 yards, 23 touchdowns and eight interceptions. He also has 36 carries for 241 yards and seven touchdowns. The Lions have improved to seven wins and one loss, and are in second place in the West Division.
One other Canadian found the end zone this past weekend on a winning team. Sean Thomas-Erlington of Montreal, Quebec had a 23 yard-touchdown run with three minutes and 35 seconds left in the fourth quarter in a 34-27 Hamilton Tiger-Cats win over the Toronto Argonauts on Friday. At the time, the Tiger-Cats took a 30-24 lead. In the game, Thomas-Erlington had two carries for 28 yards and one touchdown. This was Thomas-Erlington’s first touchdown of the season. In nine games, he has 20 carries for 126 yards.
