Sean Whyte delivers at BC Place as the Lions win in front of their fans
Updated: Oct 31
The Lions had already won this season. Just never at home. It took until August 8 for BC Place to taste victory, and it took a 24-yard Sean Whyte field goal with 28 seconds left, at the end of a night far more laborious than the opponent suggested it would be: a Tiger-Cats team throwing a quarterback into the fire who had never started a game in the CFL.
Buck Pierce and his group came away with a 27-24 win. They climb to 3-5. And above all, they proved they can still find answers when they have to.
Rourke finds his bearings — eventually
Out for three games, Nathan Rourke picked up exactly where he left off: on the Lions' very first offensive series, he drove his offence to the doorstep of the end zone and found Zander Horvath on a short pass to the right to open the scoring. Seven points in four minutes, and the impression the Lions had immediately rediscovered their offensive rhythm.
That rhythm didn't last. Through the rest of the first half, the timing between Rourke and his receiving corps stayed visibly out of sync, the offence stalled, and Hamilton took advantage to move in front. It took the locker room to bring out the real Rourke: his second half was far sharper, with a markedly better completion rate and an offence that started moving in ten-yard chunks instead of fits and starts.
Final line: 22-of-39 for 370 yards, 2 touchdowns, 1 interception, and an average of 9.5 yards per attempt that tells you just how much the Lions lived on big plays.
McInnis, 82 yards and a ball he never let go
The biggest of those plays came inside three minutes before the break, with the Lions trailing. On a flea flicker, Rourke sent the ball deep to Justin McInnis, who hauled it in through pass interference, kept control of it and accelerated into the end zone. 82 yards, the longest play of the game, and a 14-14 tie in a BC Place that had finally woken up.
McInnis finished with 5 catches for 159 yards and a touchdown. Uneven efficiency on his 11 targets, but a permanent threat down the field. He also had the last word: he's the one who caught the 33-yard pass that launched the Lions' winning drive.
Jevon Cottoy returns, and delivers consistency
Where McInnis was spectacular, Jevon Cottoy was dependable. The Langley Rams product, back from injury, was targeted seven times and caught seven balls for 109 yards. Seven for seven. His 11-yard screen catch in the closing minutes put the Lions on Hamilton's 25 and set Whyte up to win the game.
His return comes at the right time for an offence that badly needed a receiver who could be counted on to move the chains.
Horvath, the constant
Zander Horvath is riding his momentum. After a standout showing the week before, the back scored two touchdowns — the first on Rourke's seven-yard pass early in the game, his seventh major of the season, the second on a one-yard run up the middle in the third quarter to put the Lions back in front.
His line: 16 carries for 62 yards plus a seven-yard reception. An average of 3.9 yards per carry that captures the night: without the explosive gains he and Kaidon Salter produced a week earlier, the Lions had to move the ball on the ground in small doses this time.
Frost didn't flinch
On the other side, Harrison Frost was making the first start of his CFL career. He nearly opened with an interception — Deontai Williams let the chance slip on the very first series — but he never panicked. 20-of-33 for 239 yards, 1 touchdown and 1 interception: a clean line, nothing forced, exactly what you ask of a quarterback making his debut.
His touchdown to Kurleigh Gittens Jr. gave Hamilton the lead in the second quarter, and his 46-yard strike to Myron Mitchell late in the game set the table for Jake Dolegala's QB sneak — his second of the night — which pulled the two teams even at 24-24 with under eight minutes to play. For a team that had already beaten the Lions in Hamilton, it was close.
What made the difference
The defence, mostly. Darnell Sankey dropped Frost on a sack that killed a drive in the second quarter, then tipped the ball that Deontai Williams intercepted and returned some 40 yards in the third. Those two moments, more than any wire-to-wire game plan, are what kept the Lions in it while the offence sputtered.
And then there's Whyte. One attempt blocked and recovered by Hamilton at midfield, a 33-yarder converted early in the fourth, and the 24-yard kick that settled everything. Two of three, but the right one at the right time.
It wasn't their most spectacular win, or their most convincing performance. But after two months of waiting since the season kicked off, the Lions finally gave BC Place the one thing it was missing: a victory.
What's next
At 3-5, the Lions have little margin left in the West, and the schedule offers no favours: they hit the road on August 13 to face the Stampeders in Calgary. Finding that second-half Rourke — and keeping him for four quarters — is no longer optional.
Of note: the night also marked a milestone for Neil McEvoy, who reached 300 wins with the organization.
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