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<\/p>\nAfter a 2-1 road swing, including last week\u2019s 33-30 loss to the Toronto Argonauts, the Stampeders play the first of three straight games at home.<\/p>\n
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\u201cWe need to beat the B.C. Lions in order to get to where we need to get to and start protecting our house,\u201d Stampeders head coach and general manager Dave Dickenson said Wednesday. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe only have one win here at McMahon. We need to start winning at home and making sure that teams that come in here leave with a loss.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Lions won 27-24 on Saturday against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in quarterback Nathan Rourke\u2019s return. <\/p>\n
The league\u2019s Most Outstanding Player in 2025 had missed three games with an injury to his non-throwing arm after he was injured on the opening drive of a July 17 loss to Edmonton. B.C. went 1-2 in that span. <\/p>\n
Rourke threw for 370 yards and two touchdown passes against the Ticats.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just didn\u2019t feel like I was consistent enough, so hoping it\u2019s a different story tomorrow,\u201d Rourke said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a lot to be said about winning games when you don\u2019t feel like you\u2019re playing your best. I know offensively we felt like we left a lot out there, but it\u2019s not always going to be pretty.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can take a lot of confidence knowing that we can still find ways to win games when we haven\u2019t played good at certain points during the game.\u201d<\/p>\n
At 98 career touchdowns, Rourke was on the verge of becoming the second Canadian quarterback in CFL history to reach 100 after Russ Jackson (239).<\/p>\n
The Stampeders activated Canadian receiver Ajou Ajou for Thursday\u2019s game. <\/p>\n
The 24-year-old from Brooks, Alta., was released by Saskatchewan Roughriders and suspended for both the pre-season and for six regular-season games by the CFL on April 16 for violating its gender-based violence and harassment policy.<\/p>\n
The suspension stemmed from allegations of aggressive and unwelcome physical contact with multiple women at a Regina restaurant on Nov. 18, 2025, which was the day of the Grey Cup parade celebrating Saskatchewan\u2019s victory two days earlier.<\/p>\n
The Stampeders signed Ajou in July upon his reinstatement by the league, but he still had to serve his suspension.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s got to fit in and get in on special teams early, and then just be ready to do whatever his role is if the ball finds him, but he\u2019s a strong player,\u201d Dickenson said. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s fit in well. He\u2019s been motivated and he just wants to play football and get back to what he feels is his calling and make our team better.\u201d<\/p>\n
When asked if he was worried that he wouldn\u2019t get another chance to play in the CFL, Ajou replied \u201cOf course. Yeah, for sure. That was definitely a real thought in my brain. But as I said, you know, thank God. Thank God.\u201d<\/p>\n
Calgary ranked first in the league in average points per game (39.1), but the offence sputtered in Toronto where quarterback Vernon Adams Jr. threw for a season-low 159 yards and gave up his first two interceptions this season, and where the Argos dominated in down conversions.<\/p>\n
Adams says his offence can\u2019t get hustled off the field by the Lions.<\/p>\n
\u201cPlaying in second and long against a team like this is not where you want to be,\u201d said Adams, who led the CFL in touchdown passes with 21. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf we could get yards and be in second in medium, four to six, seven . . . it gives us a better shot. If we could do that and convert and obviously get points, score touchdowns, that would help our defence out. Our defence has been playing amazing these last few weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stampeders cornerback Ben Labrosse had five interceptions in three games since he was made a starter.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a revolving door in the CFL, so there\u2019s always young guys, there\u2019s veterans that they\u2019re signing,\u201d said the 26-year-old from Greenfield Park, Que. \u201cYou\u2019ve just got to run with the opportunity that you get.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Lions, who were 5-1 in their last six games in Calgary, operated on short prep after the win over the Ticats.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe onus is on the players to make sure they get their bodies right,\u201d Pierce said. \u201cEvery game at this level is physical, especially right around the halfway point of the season. For us, it\u2019s just making sure we stick to our process. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis isn\u2019t our first short week. You\u2019ve got to be able to move on, regardless of the result the previous week.\u201d<\/p>\n
Calgary downed B.C. 41-22 in Kelowna, B.C., in June. The Lions played a pair of home games in the Okanagan because of FIFA World Cup matches in Vancouver.<\/p>\n
The Stampeders conclude their regular season at home against the Lions on Oct. 18.<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 12, 2026.<\/p>\n
Donna Spencer, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After a 2-1 road swing, including last week\u2019s 33-30 loss to the Toronto Argonauts, the Stampeders play the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":856321,"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-856320","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\/856320","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=856320"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/856320\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/856321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=856320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=856320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=856320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}