On Friday night at Mosaic Stadium, the BC Lions clashed with the Saskatchewan Roughriders in their second meeting of the season. The Lions beat the Roughriders 32-17 in Week 8, and many expected an encore.
In the first quarter, Lions’ quarterback Nathan Rourke threw four passes for 79 yards, plus a defensive pass interference penalty on Saskatchewan moved the ball towards the Roughriders’ one-yard line. Backup quarterback Antonio Pipkin scored a touchdown with a quarterback sneak for a 7-0 lead with 11:19 left.
For the rest of the first quarter, both offenses moved the ball down the field, but Lions’ quarterback Nathan Rourke and Roughriders’ quarterback Cody Fajardo threw a combined three interceptions. The Roughriders had the ball to start the second quarter trailing 7-0.
On the second play of the second quarter, Fajardo’s pass was intercepted by Loucheiz Purifoy. The Lions were unable to capitalize on the turnover and punted the ball back to Saskatchewan. The Roughriders finally got on the board with 6:08 left on a 12-yard field goal by Brett Lauther, cutting the Lions’ lead to 7-3.
BC quarterback Nathan Rourke threw five straight passes for 59 yards. Then, Lions’ backup quarterback Antonio Pipkin rushed for nine yards to the Roughriders’ two-yard line. He finished the drive with a touchdown using the quarterback sneak for a 14-3 lead with 2:31 left.
After the Roughriders went three-and-out, Lions’ quarterback Nathan Rourke threw a 90-yard touchdown to Lucky Whitehead, extending their lead 21-3 with 1:47 left.
The Roughriders made a quarterback change late in the second quarter with Mason Fine. Fine led the offense down to the Lions’ four-yard line before finding Justin McInnis for the touchdown, and the Roughriders trailed the Lions 21-10 at halftime.
In the second half, the Roughriders were shut out. The only points scored in the second half came in the third quarter, when Lions’ quarterback Nathan Rourke threw an 11-yard touchdown pass to a leaping Bryan Burnham, who had a defender on him and made a great catch for the touchdown. It was now 28-10 with 9:52 left in the third quarter.
Unfortunately for the Lions, they lost Nathan Rourke after Pete Robinson sacked him and suffered a right ankle injury in the fourth quarter. He could not put any weight on his ankle, and Michael O’Connor played the rest of the game.
One could argue that the game was out of reach for Saskatchewan and that the Lions should’ve put their backups in for the rest of the game. The Roughriders never got close to scoring another point, and the Lions won the game 28-10. The Lions move to 8-1, while the Roughriders drop to 5-5.
Before the injury, BC quarterback Nathan Rourke went 22/31 for 375 yards, two touchdowns, two interceptions, and three carries for 63 yards. Backup quarterback Antonio Pipkin had four carries for 14 yards and two touchdowns, while wide receiver Lucky Whitehead had nine catches for 136 yards and one touchdown.
The Lions’ defense allowed 317 yards, 52 tackles, five sacks, one forced fumble, five pass breakups, three interceptions, and one fumble recovery.
Saskatchewan quarterback Cody Fajardo went 8/13 for 41 yards and two interceptions, while Mason Fine was 16/26 for 210 yards, one touchdown, one interception, and three carries for 20 yards. Wide receiver Justin McInnis had six catches for 111 yards and two touchdowns, and the defense allowed 504 yards, 54 tackles, one sack, two pass breakups, and two interceptions. Both teams will meet again next Saturday at 10:30 pm on ESPNews.
