Rourke sets single-game record for Canadian quarterbacks in huge BC Lions win

Jun 26 2022, 4:52 pm

BC Lions QB Nathan Rourke is officially in the history books.

In Saturday’s 44-3 win over the Toronto Argonauts, Rourke threw for 436 yards and four touchdowns, the former of which was a single-game record for a Canadian QB in the CFL.

Rourke completed 39 of 45 passes on the day but pushed the credit onto his teammates and coaching staff for believing in him.

“Those guys have all the all the faith in me and that gives me so much confidence,” Rourke said.

Gerry Dattilio held the previous single-game passing record by a Canadian, throwing for 427 yards in 1981 while playing for the Montreal Alouettes.

Born in Victoria before attending Ohio University, Rourke was picked up by the Lions in the second round of the 2020 CFL Draft.

And while it’s still early in the season, the Lions and Rourke have been pushing all the right buttons through their first two games. The team sports a 2-0 record, while also having outscored their opponents 103-18 so far.

“It’s a system, the guys are in the right positions,” Rourke said. “I’m just a distributor in football there. Those guys are getting in the right positions and they’re making big plays for me. I mean, there’s pros today especially in the first half where I wasn’t, I wasn’t near as accurate as I need to do but those guys made some plays for me and it making me look good out there.”

His teammates weren’t exactly letting Rourke stay humble about his hard work to date.

“When you come into the facility, he’s the first one there. And I’m one of the last people to leave. He’s literally there after me, walking, eating a peanut butter jelly sandwich, trying to find something to do. He’s always working no matter what,” Lions defensive back Gary Peters said.

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