KELOWNA – James Butler and the BC Lions won the turf battle as they notched their first win of the CFL season, defeating the previously unbeaten Edmonton Elks 36-24 on Saturday in front of another sellout crowd at the Apple Bowl.
Butler rumbled for 135 yards and two touchdowns, outdoing league-leading rusher Justin Rankin on another sunny evening in the Okanagan – the Lions’ home away from home after being kicked out of BC Place Stadium in Vancouver by the FIFA World Cup.
“It feels good to get in the win column. To be able to get one in Kelowna is great, but just to get one in general is good,” said Lions quarterback Nathan Rourke, who again passed for more than 300 yards.
“We knew it wasn’t going to be easy. This is a team that was 3-0 and they had won three close games. They were playing with a lot of confidence and we definitely saw that today. I just thought we fed off the energy of the crowd. We came back.”
Led by Butler, who scored back-to-back touchdowns in the second quarter to turn a 14-10 deficit into a 23-14 advantage, the Lions head into a good week with some confidence.
“It was great to see. We know he’s capable of doing those things all the time,” Rourke said. “He ran extremely well behind the line of scrimmage. They did a really good job of setting the tone of the game. They opened those holes for him.
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“We want to be balanced as an offense. We want to do a lot of different things. We want to get the ball to different people. He and Zander (Horvath) are doing a really good job of running the rock for us. It certainly makes my job easier.”
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Horvath also scored twice, on the ground in the first quarter and through the air in the fourth, and Sean Whyte made three first-half field goals for the Lions (1-3). Whyte was good from 16, 33 and then 40 yards on the final play of the second quarter for a 29-21 halftime lead.
“Very impressed with what we were able to do running the ball,” Lions coach and offensive coordinator Buck Pierce said. “And I thought our defense played hard. Rankin’s going to make his plays. He’s one of those guys you have to buy a ticket to see. But from a coaching standpoint, they did a great job of coming up with a game plan to get him out.”
Cody Fajardo responded with three touchdown passes for the Elks (3-1), twice connecting with Kaion Julien-Grant before finding Austin Mack in the end zone in the final minute of the first half. Fajardo also threw three interceptions, with Vincent Blanchard’s lone field goal in the fourth quarter sparking Edmonton’s only offense of the second half.
The teams combined for 50 points in the first half – including three touchdowns each – to deliver another high-scoring, highly entertaining contest that ended Touchdown Kelowna’s festivities on a high note for more than 19,000 raucous fans.
The Lions lost the first game of their two-week stretch here, falling 41-33 to the Calgary Stampeders in a battle of winless teams last Saturday. But they held on this time, with several players stepping up on defense and special teams to support Butler, Rourke and the rest of the offense for an impressive all-around triumph.
“It’s big that we ended up here with a win,” said defensive back Jackson Findlay, who had an interception in the first half for BC’s first of four turnovers. “We really enjoyed our time here. Great weather, great people and we had a lot of fun.
“We left a lot on the table those first three games. We know we’re a better team than that … and I think we showed that today,” Findlay added. “So we’re very excited to go into the bye week with a win.”
THE KEY MOMENT
The Lions opened the scoring on their second possession to fire up the fans, marching down the field thanks to four straight completions by Rourke before Horvath hit it from the one-yard line.
Darnell Sankey’s interception at the BC goal line late in the fourth quarter was another key moment, snuffing out Edmonton’s comeback bid and getting the capacity crowd roaring again.
KEY STATUS
Rankin had just four tackles in the first half, resulting in a three-yard loss. He finished the game with 19 yards rushing and 100 yards receiving. He also called for a reversal and did not include the score. He entered the game as the Elks’ leading rusher and receiver through three games.
UP NEXT
Elks: Host the Ottawa Redblacks (0-4) on Thursday.
Lions: Visit the Edmonton Elks on Friday, July 17.
This report from The Canadian Press was first published on July 4, 2026.
&copies 2026 The Canadian Press
