VANCOUVER — Nathan Rourke threw four touchdown passes to lead the BC Lions to a 31-24 victory over the Saskatchewan Roughriders on Friday night. The Lions have now taken seven of their past eight games with this most recent result taking them above the Riders in the West Division standings.
After the two teams split their two meetings earlier in the year, the winner of Friday’s showdown would claim the tiebreaker in the standings as the two clubs aim to book their ticket to the postseason. Rourke threw for a touchdown in each quarter, with the first two going to Keon Hatcher Sr. and giving BC a 17-13 lead at the half.
Rourke’s third touchdown pass of the night went to Jevon Cottoy midway through the third quarter after the Riders failed to capitalize after receiving the second half kickoff. On their second possession of the half, the Riders were denied on third-and-short, resulting in the only turnover of the ballgame. The Lions were unable to come up with any points off of the takeaway as the two teams traded punts on the next five drives.
Dawson Hodge’s third field goal of the night made it a one-possession game with less than five minutes to go, but Rourke responded immediately with a stunning scramble and pass to Justin McInnis which setup his fourth and final touchdown, this time firing to Jermaine Jackson to make it 31-16 just before the three-minute warning.
A.J. Ouellette would get into the end zone late in his first game back from injury, but BC managed to run down the clock, not allowing Trevor Harris a chance to mount a potential game-tying drive.
Rourke finished with 22 completions on 28 attempts, passing for 375 yards and the four touchdowns. Jevon Cottoy caught all nine of his targets for 96 yards and McInnis made a couple of big plays to record 111 yards on three receptions.
Red zone offence held the Riders back in Vancouver as the away team registered two touchdowns on their five trips to scoring territory. Harris was 26-33, going for 297 yards and a touchdown. His passing touchdown went to rookie receiver Dylan Djete in the second quarter, giving Saskatchewan a brief lead before Hatcher Sr. caught his second touchdown of the night. BC led until the end from that point on.
A.J. Ouellette totalled 77 yards and a touchdown on 19 carries, while KeeSean Johnson paced the Riders’ receiver room with nine catches on 11 targets for 119 receiving yards.
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» Depth Charts: SSK | BC » Game Notes: Roughriders at Lions
SCORING PLAYS
- Dawson Hodge 27-yard field goal (7:16, Q1) | SSK 3, BC 0
- Nathan Rourke 14-yard passing touchdown to Keon Hatcher Sr. (6:33, Q1) | BC 7, SSK 3
- Dawson Hodge 31-yard field goal (14:05, Q2) | BC 7, SSK 6
- Sean Whyte 14-yard field goal (7:10, Q2) | BC 10, SSK 6
- Trevor Harris 13-yard touchdown pass to Dylan Djete (2:16, Q2) | SSK 13, BC 10
- Nathan Rourke 19-yard touchdown pass to Keon Hatcher Sr. (0:20, Q2) | BC 17, SSK 13
- Nathan Rourke 11-yard touchdown pass to Jevon Cottoy (7:30, Q3) | BC 24, SSK 13
- Dawson Hodge 32-yard field goal (4:17, Q4) | BC 24, SSK 16
- Nathan Rourke 11-yard passing touchdown to Jermaine Jackson (3:01, Q4) | BC 31, SSK 16
- A.J. Ouellette two-yard rushing touchdown (2:10, Q4) | BC 31, SSK 24
NEXT UP
In Week 18, the Roughriders will return to Mosaic Stadium where they will host the Calgary Stampeders on Friday, October 2. The Riders came out on top of an overtime thriller when the two teams met back in Week 3.
The Lions meanwhile will hit the road on Saturday, October 3 to take on a Toronto Argonauts team that has won four straight. The Lions have struggled in Toronto in recent years, having dropped six of their past seven games at BMO Field.