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BC Lions have broken a 56-year long franchise record

Colton Pankiw
Colton Pankiw
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Jul 31 2026, 4:12 pm
BC Lions have broken a 56-year long franchise record
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The 2026 season hasn’t been very kind to the BC Lions, though Thursday night felt like a massive step in the right direction.

Taking on the Winnipeg Blue Bombers at Princess Auto Stadium, the Lions picked up an impressive 35-19 win. The win improves them to 2-5 on the season, and has them just one win back of the Calgary Stampeders as they look to crawl out of the basement in the West Division.

While seemingly everything went well for the Lions on Thursday, it was their running game that really put on a show.

The trio of quarterback Kaidon Salter, Zander Horvath, and Emani Bailey combined for 377 rushing yards. That set a new Lions record, surpassing the 347 rushing yards they had way back on Oct. 26, 1969. The previous record was held for nearly 57 years.

Horvath did a ton of the heavy lifting, finishing with 191 yards on the evening, while Salter, making his first start, rushed for a ridiculous 160. Bailey, who was used rather sparingly with just six carries, chipped in with 26 yards.

“I thought he did pretty well for his first start,” head coach Buck Piere said of Salter. “There’s going to be some things that he’s going to want back, but I think the group rallied behind him. It wasn’t too big for him.”

Thanks to this being a Thursday game, the Lions have an extended break before taking on the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Saturday, Aug. 8.

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