KELOWNA – Vernon Adams Jr. and the Calgary Stampeders played spoiler in front of a capacity crowd at the Apple Bowl, beating the BC Lions 41-33 on Saturday night for their first win of the new CFL season.
More than 19,000 fans attended Touchdown Kelowna’s opener, with the Lions hitting BC Place in Vancouver for the FIFA World Cup, but Adams Jr. provided three assists to defeat his former team.
Nathan Rourke, who replaced Adams Jr. as BC’s starter, resulting in his trade to Calgary, had a strong first half – matching Adams Jr’s effort to that point, with two touchdown passes – but couldn’t rally the Lions in the fourth quarter as they fell to 0-3.
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Adams Jr. connected with Dedrick Mills, Jalen Philpot and Tevin Jones through the air, with Calgary also getting a rushing touchdown from Quincy Vaughn and a 90-yard punt return from Tyreik McAllister as their exclamation points in the final frame.
Jude McAtamney rounded out Calgary’s scoring with two field goals, including a 57-yarder — tying the longest here, a mark previously set by Okanagan Sun junior Steven Shott before he went on to play for the Lions.
Rourke threw TDs to Zander Horvath, Jermaine Jackson and Hergy Mayala, Horvath added a late score on the ground and Sean Whyte kicked a 36-yard field goal to tally the BC offense.
THE KEY MOMENT
BC’s Silas Bolden fumbled a kickoff return late in the second quarter, allowing Calgary to score two touchdowns just over a minute apart for a 10-point halftime lead.
It was a big spur of the moment move as Rourke got the crowd roaring en route to the Lions’ first lead. Adams Jr. answered with a six-yard pass to Philpot with 1:09 left in the second quarter, then quickly marched the Stampeders back into scoring territory and Vaughn plunged in from two yards out with three seconds left to capitalize on a special teams turnover.
UP NEXT
Stampeders: Host the Toronto Argonauts (2-1) on Thursday.
Lions: Host the Edmonton Eskimos (3-0) on Saturday, July 4, in Kelowna, BC
This report from The Canadian Press was first published on June 27, 2026.
&copies 2026 The Canadian Press
