![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/indicator-big.gif\")
<\/p>\n\u201cI don\u2019t really think too much about topping them. You look at last week, 287 and the other guy had over 400 but we came out on top. Just doing what I can to make sure we win.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t<\/p>\n
Mitchell, 36, threw for 287 yards and three touchdowns in Hamilton\u2019s 37-27 road win over Winnipeg last week. Bombers starter Zach Collaros had 421 yards passing with two touchdowns and an interception.<\/p>\n
Rourke, of Victoria, completed 24-of-37 passes for 330 yards in B.C.\u2019s season-opening 31-27 road loss to the defending-champion Saskatchewan Roughriders last week. He also ran for a team-high 59 yards and TD.<\/p>\n
Rourke enjoyed a record-setting 2025 campaign, throwing for a career-high 5,290 yards and 31 touchdowns. He also had 564 rushing yards \u2014 tops among CFL quarterbacks \u2014 and averaged 9.2 yards per carry while scoring 10 TDs.<\/p>\n
Rourke\u2019s 5,290 passing yards was a single-season CFL record for Canadian quarterbacks. The 31 TD strikes were second-most by a Canadian behind the legendary Russ Jackson\u2019s 33 in 1969.<\/p>\n
But Mitchell will take the same approach Friday that he does each week.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou always like to get out there and prove yourself against the best, no matter who it is, what position they\u2019re playing,\u201d Mitchell said. \u201cI like to talk myself up and tell myself I\u2019m the best player on the field every single time I step out there.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s how my thought process is. I\u2019m sure there\u2019s 50-60 other guys who think the same thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
In last season\u2019s two matchups with B.C., Mitchell threw for 694 yards with six TDs. Rourke had 697 passing yards with two touchdowns but also ran for 62 yards.<\/p>\n
B.C. will be short-handed Friday night as receivers Stanley Berryhill III (thigh) and Seven McGee (foot) and Canadian Jevon Cottoy (thigh) are all out. Veteran Keon Hatcher Sr. (102 catches, 1,688 yards, nine TDs last season) is a game-time decision with a thigh ailment.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo matter what, it\u2019s professional football so you\u2019re going to have guys who\u2019re able to play,\u201d said veteran Hamilton safety Stavros Katsantonis. \u201cOur focus is on what they do really well and stopping that.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously they have a really good quarterback and we must do our best to contain him, confuse him with looks and keep him from running the football.\u201d<\/p>\n
Canadian Justin McInnis led all B.C. receivers against Saskatchewan with eight catches for 129 yards while Hatcher had four receptions for 64 yards. Berryhill (three catches, 46 yards) and Cottoy (four receptions, 51 yards) also made contributions while McGee \u2014 the Lions\u2019 top kick returner last year \u2014 started but had no catches.<\/p>\n
Hamilton is also dealing with injuries. All-star cornerback Jamal Peters (head) won\u2019t play while middle linebacker Wynton McManis (knee) has yet to make his Ticats debut.<\/p>\n
American Zamari Walton comes off the practice roster to replace Peters. Canadian Ryan Baker \u2014 a University of British Columbia alum \u2014 draws a third straight start at middle linebacker.<\/p>\n
As Hamilton\u2019s offensive play caller, head coach Scott Milanovich will match wits with Mike Benevides, who\u2019s in his second stint as B. C.\u2019s defensive co-ordinator. Benevides, a three-time Grey Cup champion, also served as Lions head coach (2012-14) as well as an assistant with Calgary (2000-\u201902), Edmonton (2016-18) and Ottawa (2021-22).<\/p>\n
\u201cBene has been around so long,\u201d said Milanovich. \u201cHe has the ability to go to any coverage that has ever been designed and he will.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo it\u2019s a game you go into with a plan of how we think they\u2019ll play us. If they don\u2019t, then I\u2019m telling the players to just be ready and we\u2019ll adjust.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hamilton must also contend with Lions defensive lineman Mathieu Betts, the CFL\u2019s top defensive player last season after posting a league-high 15 sacks. Betts has 12 sacks in his last seven games.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s obviously a great player,\u201d Milanovich said. \u201cThey move him around \u2026 we\u2019ll have to keep an eye on him.\u201d<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 18, 2026.<\/p>\n
Dan Ralph, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cI don\u2019t really think too much about topping them. You look at last week, 287 and the other…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":746431,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[879,49,48,521,522,2467,520,2461,2468,2460,2462,2463,44,2464,2465,2466,82],"class_list":["post-746430","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cfl","tag-breaking-news","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canadian-football-league","tag-canadianfootballleague","tag-central-vancouver-island","tag-cfl","tag-nanaimo","tag-nanaimo-breaking-news","tag-nanaimo-news","tag-nanaimo-news-now","tag-nanaimonewsnow","tag-news","tag-oceanside","tag-parksville","tag-qualicum","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/746430","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=746430"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/746430\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/746431"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=746430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=746430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=746430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}