While football season has started in the states and across the global market, it’s important to acknowledge and showcase Canada’s own football league, the CFL, which starts at the beginning of summer. A time to show love and support to the BC Lions, Vancouver’s CFL team, which also happens to be Vancouver’s only modern-day championship-winning professional sports team. The Lions won an important game last Saturday, Oct. 15, against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, showing that even after a downturn at the half of the season, the Lions are strong enough for the postseason and contenders for the championship.
For non-CFL fans, here is a quick recap of this 2022 season. The Lions had an explosive first half, going 8-1 at the beginning of the season — a surprise to fans, as the team has normally sat in the middle tier of the CFL since 2016. With one of the best quarterbacks in the league, B.C.-born Nathan Rourke, helming the offense, combined with one of the best receiver corps in the team’s recent history and a strong defensive line-up, the Lions looked like strong championship contenders.
A sudden twist of fate, with Rourke suffering a foot injury against the Saskatchewan Roughriders on August 19, took the young star out for the season. Since then, the Lions have only won three out of the last seven games, mainly thanks to their strong defence and special teams. They eventually settled on Vernon Adams Jr. as quarterback, traded from the Montreal Alouettes, to helm the offence in Rourke’s absence
Determination and defence have kept the Lions managing to hold onto second place in the west division and overall, but not far ahead of the always postseason-strong Calgary Stampeders in third. Both teams clinched positions in the fast-approaching playoffs and are positioned to play each other, making this weekend an important one to determine which of the long-term western rivals would secure home advantage in their playoff game.
Luck blessed the Lions on Oct. 14 with the Stampeders losing to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 35-32. This means that the Stamps couldn’t tie the Lions’ season record before the Lions face off against the first-place and two-time Grey Cup winning champs, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers on Oct. 15.
The Lions played well last Saturday, winning 40-32, sealing the victory over the Bombers with an interception and 102-yard return for a touchdown by T.J. Lee, late in the fourth quarter. The final touchdown was the Lions’ second pick of the night — the first one was by Marcus Sayles in the second quarter. The interceptions are a testament to the resilience of the Lions’ defense which has carried the team throughout the season and this game. Terry Williams, the Lions’ punt and kick returner on special teams, returned for 341 yards. That allowed the Lions’ offense to run successful running plays, getting running back James Butler 104 rushing yards, and one touchdown.
While the performances of the Lions’ defence and special teams were spectacular, the offence still has some kinks to work out. Vernon Adams Jr. completed 59 per cent of his passes for 138 yards and one touchdown, a rather low number in the CFL, but looked more confident running the offence.
The game against Winnipeg last week closed the Lion’s home games for the season, going onto the road against the Edmonton Elks and Winnipeg again to end the season. The Lions only need to win one of these games to secure home-field advantage for the playoffs, and the best chance is against Edmonton, one of the worst teams in the league, and bottom of the western division this weekend on Oct. 21.
Teryn Midzain is an English Major with ambitious goals to write movies and a full-time nerd, whose personality and eccentrics run on high-octane like the cars he loves. More importantly, Teryn loves sports [Formula One], and doesn’t care who knows. When not creating and running deadly schemes in his D&D sessions, Teryn tries to reach the core of what makes the romantic and dramatic World of Sports, the characters and people that make the events so spectacular.
