Stampeders ruin Lions’ party with 41

KELOWNA – Vernon Adams Jr. and the Calgary Stampeders played spoiler in front of a capacity crowd at the Apple Bowl, prevailing 41-33 over the B.C. Lions on Saturday evening for their first win of the young CFL season.

More than 19,000 fans attended the opener of Touchdown Kelowna, with the Lions punted from B.C. Place in Vancouver for the FIFA World Cup, but Adams Jr. delivered three touchdown passes to defeat his former team.

Nathan Rourke, who replaced Adams Jr. as B.C.’s starter, resulting in his trade to Calgary, had a strong first half — matching Adams Jr.’s effort to that point, with two passing touchdowns — but couldn’t rally the Lions in the fourth quarter as they fell to 0-3.

The Stampeders improved to 1-2 after getting touchdowns from five different players and a record-tying field goal for this stadium.

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 point in the final frame.

Jude McAtamney rounded out Calgary’s scoring with two field goals, including a 57-yarder — equalling the longest here, a mark previously established by Steven Shott of the Okanagan Sun junior program before going on to play for the Lions.

Rourke had TD tosses 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 account for B.C.’s offence.

B.C.’s Silas Bolden fumbled on a kickoff return late in the second quarter, allowing Calgary to score two touchdowns just over a minute apart for a 10-point lead at halftime.

That was a huge momentum swing after Rourke had the crowd roaring en route to the Lions’ first lead. Adams Jr. responded with a six-yard TD pass to Philpot with 1:09 remaining 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 that special teams turnover.

Stampeders: Host the Toronto Argonauts (2-1) on Thursday.

Lions: Host the Edmonton Eskimos (3-0) on Saturday, July 4, in Kelowna, B.C.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 27, 2026.