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<\/p>\nThe B.C. squad that started the season 1-5 rallied with nine wins over its next 10 games to clinch a spot in the CFL playoffs. <\/p>\n
\t<\/p>\n
On Saturday, the team rallied once again, overcoming a 14-point deficit to beat the Riders 33-26 in the West Division semifinal. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe knew our defence was still going to keep playing well, special teams were going to make their plays,\u201d said Rourke, who connected on 21 of his 32 pass attempts for 366 yards with three touchdowns. <\/p>\n
\u201cAnd offensively, we just had to remember what we\u2019re capable of and just try to string a couple of plays together and try to get into a rhythm.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Lions will travel to face the Edmonton Elks (13-5) in the West Division final on Nov. 7.<\/p>\n
The East semifinal earlier on Saturday saw the Winnipeg Blue Bombers stun the Argonauts with a 25-22 comeback victory in Toronto. <\/p>\n
The Bombers will take on the host Montreal Alouettes in the East final on Nov. 7. Calgary hosts the Grey Cup on Nov. 15.<\/p>\n
For Saskatchewan, it was a painful end to the season. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou want to win a championship every single year. Of course you do,\u201d said Riders quarterback Trevor Harris, who logged 309 passing yards with one interception. \u201cAnd so when you come up short it sucks, it hurts. You can\u2019t lie about that.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have aspirations to accomplish more. And a game like this is one that\u2019ll keep you up at night. But it\u2019ll drive you for improvement and the ways to get better.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Riders and Lions came in with identical 10-8 regular-season records, but B.C. earned the right to host by winning the season head-to-head series 2-1.<\/p>\n
A turnover on downs proved costly for the Lions midway through the second. <\/p>\n
The Riders got the ball at their own 49-yard line and worked it up the field over six plays, capping the drive with Tommy Stevens muscling his way into the end zone. Saskatchewan opted to go for the two-point convert and Harris made good, connecting with Samuel Emilus to give his side a 17-3 advantage. <\/p>\n
It was the visitors\u2019 lone major of the night. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe had an opportunity, man,\u201d said Riders head coach Corey Mace. \u201cProud of those guys. They fought until the very last second.\u201d <\/p>\n
B.C. replied to the touchdown with Rourke scrambling out of the pocket and lobbing a rainbow up the field to an unmarked Stanley Berryhill, who dashed over the goal line for the major. Sean Whyte\u2019s kick for the extra point was good, cutting the Lions\u2019 deficit to 17-10. <\/p>\n
The play showed how special Rourke is as a player, said Lions head coach Buck Pierce.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe never ceases to amaze me,\u201d said Pierce, himself a former CFL quarterback. \u201cThat play right there, you just look at the effort, the will he had to get something going for the offence, get something going for the team. And it ignited the crowd, it ignited the sideline. \u2026 He\u2019s just a phenomenal player that makes plays that I haven\u2019t seen in a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n
B.C. went into halftime down 17-13 and Cottoy said \u201ca couple guys\u2019 heads were down.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of us knew that we weren\u2019t playing our best football, and we were still (only) down four points. In the playoffs, that\u2019s huge,\u201d said the Canadian receiver. \u201cAnd we just had to make sure we took advantage of it in that second half, right?\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked what was said in the room during the break, Pierce said the players were simply reminded they\u2019d been in tough situations before.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a resilient group,\u201d he said. \u201cMaybe more resilient than any other group I\u2019ve been a part of in terms of understanding where we are and how we need to respond. And I think that\u2019s a belief in everybody. And I think more than anything it was just relaying that message once again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rourke orchestrated more highlight-reel plays in the third quarter. The first came off a quick dish to Jevon Cottoy, who split the Saskatchewan defence and sprinted up the field for a 70-yard touchdown that levelled the score at 20-20.<\/p>\n
The Riders added another three points with Brett Lauther\u2019s fifth field goal of the night before Rourke found an open Cottoy steps from the end zone. <\/p>\n
He reeled in the pass and took a few strides in for his second major of the game, putting the Lions up 27-23 at the end of the quarter. <\/p>\n
Rourke was quick to credit the Lions\u2019 defence for the victory, though. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve been incredible all year,\u201d he said, adding that he felt his offence didn\u2019t play at their best at times on Saturday.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut our defence was able to win it for us. And that\u2019s a testament to how great they\u2019ve been and how crucial they\u2019ve been to this football team.\u201d<\/p>\n
B.C. and Saskatchewan traded field goals across the fourth and final frame. <\/p>\n
Whyte\u2019s 34-yard kick boosted B.C.\u2019s lead to seven points midway through the quarter and the veteran kicker added another from 24 yards with three minutes left on the game clock. <\/p>\n
The Riders clawed three points back in the final two minutes of the game when Lauther made a 44-yard field goal to put the score at 33-26.<\/p>\n
Whyte\u2019s 49-yard attempt field goal fell short with 49 seconds to go, giving Saskatchewan\u2019s offence one last chance, but the green and white stalled out at B.C.\u2019s 34-yard line. <\/p>\n
The loss hung in the air of the Riders\u2019 locker room after the game, said defensive back Tevaughn Campbell. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt hurt, for lack of a better term,\u201d he said. \u201cIt really showed. You could see it on guys\u2019 faces. You could feel the emotion in the room. It just sucks.\u201d<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 31, 2026.<\/p>\n
Gemma Karstens-Smith, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The B.C. squad that started the season 1-5 rallied with nine wins over its next 10 games to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":954051,"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-954050","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\/954050","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=954050"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/954050\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/954051"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=954050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=954050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=954050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}