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<\/p>\n\u201cIt\u2019s a next man up mentality. They (told) me to just do you out there. I just can\u2019t wait to prove myself again every game.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t<\/p>\n
Quarterback Nathan Rourke likes what Cenacle has shown.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s got great energy,\u201d said Rourke, last year\u2019s CFL outstanding player and top Canadian. \u201cHe\u2019s a very positive guy, has been learning very quickly.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a guy that we feel can get to the right spots and be where you need him to be.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cenacle said his 44 games at Hawaii, where he caught 122 passes for 1,295 yards and nine touchdowns, helped prepared him for the CFL.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing in a high-powered, high-passing offence in college helped me a lot to be accustomed to this game,\u201d said the 24-year-old. \u201cIt\u2019s a bigger field, there\u2019s bigger holes. I feel like I can exploit that.\u201d<\/p>\n
With BC Place Stadium being used for the FIFA World Cup the game will be played at the Apple Bowl in Kelowna, which has been expanded to over 18,000 seats.<\/p>\n
The Lions will also host a July 4 game in Kelowna against Edmonton.<\/p>\n
Rourke is looking forward to a different sort of home experience.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously we\u2019re not in BC Place, so it\u2019s going to be a little bit strange,\u201d said the Victoria native, who has completed 42 of 72 passes for 621 yards, a touchdown and an interception in two games. \u201cWe\u2019re excited about the opportunity and I\u2019m expecting a lot of energy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Neither the Lions nor the Stampeders have started the season the way they envisioned.<\/p>\n
Calgary dropped its opening game of the season 30-28 to Winnipeg then lost 40-37 in overtime to Saskatchewan last week.<\/p>\n
After an opening week bye the Lions lost 21-27 to Saskatchewan in Week 2.<\/p>\n
The Stampeders also have injuries to deal with. Wide receiver Reggie Begelton is on the six-game injured. Defensive back Adrian Greene and linebacker Eric Rascoe have been ruled our for the game.<\/p>\n
Dave Dickenson, Calgary\u2019s head coach and general manager, said his team needs to put a full game together and not make mistakes.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe haven\u2019t played a good 60 minutes of offence,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to get going right away and we\u2019ve got to continually lock in and focus.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also sounded like a hockey coach when talking about the 10 penalties for 100 yards Calgary took against the Riders.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going to try to stay out of the penalty box,\u201d he said. \u201cI thought we had some focus penalties, some false starts. We can\u2019t have self-inflicted wounds.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Lions have struggled on both sides of the ball.<\/p>\n
BC\u2019s offence is second-last in the league averaging 27 points a game, while the defence is also second-last giving up 36 points a game.<\/p>\n
The Lions are tied with Calgary for giving up five quarterback sacks while having managed just one sack all season.<\/p>\n
Defensive co-ordinator Mike Benevides didn\u2019t mince words about his unit\u2019s performance.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve just got to play better football right now,\u201d he said. \u201cThe last two games are inexcusable, not good enough. We\u2019ve got to be better.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the end of the day, the performance relies on me. It\u2019s my responsibility to make sure we perform and we haven\u2019t. That\u2019s me, not the players. I have to make sure I put them in a position to do the best they can.\u201d<\/p>\n
Defensive back Jackson Findlay said the Lions need to tighten up their play.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve had too many deep shots, too many receivers making plays on us,\u201d said the second-year player from North Vancouver, B.C. \u201cThat just comes down to being confident in our scheme and our abilities as a unit.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a full defensive effort, we need to be better and I think we will.\u201d<\/p>\n
Buck Pierce, B.C.\u2019s head coach and offensive coordinator, said it\u2019s still early in the season.<\/p>\n
\u201cNobody is happy with where we are right now,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to get better. It\u2019s got to start in all phases.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going to continue to fight and claw. We believe in what we\u2019re doing and have make sure we\u2019re doing it in the right way.\u201d<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 26, 2026.<\/p>\n
Jim Morris, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cIt\u2019s a next man up mentality. They (told) me to just do you out there. I just can\u2019t…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":762984,"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-762983","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\/762983","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=762983"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/762983\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/762984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=762983"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=762983"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=762983"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}