{"id":248781,"date":"2025-10-29T22:14:14","date_gmt":"2025-10-29T22:14:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/248781\/"},"modified":"2025-10-29T22:14:14","modified_gmt":"2025-10-29T22:14:14","slug":"former-qb-teammates-highlight-cfl-west-semi-final-showdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/248781\/","title":{"rendered":"Former QB teammates highlight CFL West semi-final showdown"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

B.C. Lions quarterback Nathan Rourke looks on before CFL football action against the Saskatchewan Roughriders in Regina, this past Saturday.Heywood Yu\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

Former teammates Nathan Rourke and Vernon Adams Jr. will square off Saturday for the third time this season.<\/p>\n

Rourke and Adams will be under centre for their respective teams when the B.C. Lions host the Calgary Stampeders in the West Division semi-final. They were teammates last season before the Lions traded Adams to Calgary.<\/p>\n

Rourke led B.C. to a 2-0 sweep of the season series with Calgary. And he was a key figure, passing for a combined 745 yards and six touchdowns while also rushing for three TDs.<\/p>\n

B.C.\u2019s Keon Hatcher Sr. \u2013 the CFL\u2019s leading receiver this season \u2013 had 15 catches for 259 yards and two touchdowns versus Calgary.<\/p>\n

Adams completed 32-of-54 passes against his former club for 428 yards with two touchdowns but also threw five interceptions. Calgary committed seven total giveaways, compared to two for B.C.<\/p>\n

B.C. also registered eight combined sacks with Mathieu Betts (CFL leader with 15) recording three. But Calgary\u2019s Clarence Hicks had two in the Stamps\u2019 38-24 loss to the Lions on Oct. 4.<\/p>\n

Rourke leads a potent unit that led the CFL in offensive points (29.8 per game), TDs (59), net offence (430.2), average yards per play (8.04) and average yards per rush (6.1). Rourke was second overall in passing (5,290 yards) and touchdowns (31) and was the league\u2019s top-rushing quarterback (564 yards, 9.2-yard average, 10 touchdowns).<\/p>\n

Hatcher anchors a pretty solid Lions receiving corps that also includes Canadian Justin McInnis (76 catches, 1,256 yards, seven TDs) and youngster Ayden Eberhart (45 catches, league-high 19.2-yard average). B.C. can also run the ball with James Butler (1,213 yards, 5.6-yard average, 11 TDs).<\/p>\n

Calgary\u2019s defence allowed 22.2 offensive points per game (second only to Winnipeg at 21.4). B.C. was ranked seventh (26.3 points).<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

B.C. Lion Levi Bell, right, chases Calgary Stampeders quarterback Vernon Adams Jr. during first half action in Calgary last month.Jeff McIntosh\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

However, the Lions finished tied with Montreal for most sacks (45) and fumbles forced (17). Calgary had 40 sacks on the year but was tied with Toronto for most return TDs (five) and second for most turnovers forced (42) and fewest touchdown drives allowed (38).<\/p>\n

By comparison, B.C. recorded 34 turnovers and allowed 47 touchdown marches.<\/p>\n

But the combination of Rourke\u2019s mobility and the Lions\u2019 ability to pass protect resulted in B.C. allowing a league-low 20 sacks this season.<\/p>\n

Both teams enter the playoffs on win streaks. B.C. concluded its regular season with six straight victories \u2013 including two against Calgary \u2013 while the Stampeders won their final three contests following their Oct. 4 loss to the Lions.<\/p>\n

B.C. was a solid 6-3 at home during the regular season but Calgary boasted a 5-4 road mark. And the Stampeders had the best record within the West Division (7-3) just ahead of the Lions (6-4).<\/p>\n

There\u2019s not much separating these two teams, but the Lions get the edge at home and with Rourke playing his best football of the season.<\/p>\n

Pick: B.C.<\/p>\n

East Semi-finalWinnipeg Blue Bombers versus Montreal Alouettes (Saturday afternoon)<\/p>\n

In Montreal, Davis Alexander makes his first playoff start for the Alouettes after winning all of his seven regular-season appearances. But the Alouettes were just 3-8 in games he didn\u2019t start and are a vastly different team with Alexander than without. They\u2019ll definitely need Alexander at his best considering their offence finished the regular season ranked seventh in passing (254.6 yards per game) and eighth in both net yards (329.4) and rushing (85.9). <\/p>\n

Montreal\u2019s defence \u2013 anchored by Canadian defensive lineman Isaac Adeyemi-Berglund and standout linebackers Darnell Sankey and Tyrice Beverette \u2013 was tops in fewest offensive yards (338.4) and passing yards (256.9) allowed while finishing tied for the league lead in sacks.<\/p>\n

Winnipeg begins its quest for a sixth straight Grey Cup appearance on the road for the first time since 2019, when it ultimately defeated Hamilton 33-12 to win its first of two straight CFL titles. But a West Division team has never reached the championship game via the crossover. The Bombers swept the season series with Montreal 2-0, including last week\u2019s 19-10 decision. <\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Montreal Alouettes’ Najee Murray (12) and Isaac Adeyemi-Berglund (91) celebrate during a game against the Calgary Stampeders in Montreal this past Friday.Christopher Katsarov\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

Alexander didn\u2019t play, as the Als had already been assured of finishing second in the East following Hamilton\u2019s win Friday night versus Ottawa. <\/p>\n

Winnipeg has plenty of playoff experience throughout its lineup and a defence that was the league\u2019s toughest to score against (21.4 points per game, 34 offensive TDs). However, the status of receiver Nic Demski (hamstring) is important given the Bombers had the league\u2019s worst passing attack (235 yards per game). And if starter Zach Collaros struggles or gets nicked, it\u2019s very unlikely the defending West Division champions will have backup Chris Streveler (knee) to turn to.<\/p>\n

Pick: Montreal<\/p>\n

Last week: 4-0<\/p>\n

Overall: 53-28<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: B.C. Lions quarterback Nathan Rourke looks on before CFL football action against the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":248782,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,521,875,522,520,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,82,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-248781","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cfl","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-football-league","tag-canadian-news","tag-canadianfootballleague","tag-cfl","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248781","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=248781"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248781\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/248782"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=248781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=248781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=248781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}