Get Set For The CFL Labour Day Classics

By Chris Lawton

Welcome to week ten of our weekly review of each week of the 2025 CFL season. ‘Quick Kicks’ brings you week to week news of how the games went, scores, surprises, and a general feel of ‘what we learned’ from the games. What a week this was too, with four games decided by a total of 9 points, one overtime game, and two walk off field goal winners. Not to mention a whole bunch of lead changes in some competitive games.

Let’s dive right in. The first game of the weekend saw the Hamilton Tiger-Cats welcome the BC Lions for Thursday night football. It was the visiting Leos team that came out on top with a 41-38 overtime win. These two teams have played each other close two times in the last three weeks, with Hamilton winning 37-33 in BC, and the Lions returning the favour here.

If you wanted a high scoring game, (79 points total), that went back and forth, (ten lead changes), then this was a great way to kick off the week’s play with a Thursday Night Football thriller. Yet it was only 7-6 to Hamilton with, (thanks to an Isaiah Wooden punt return touchdown), a few seconds left in the first half. That’s when Nathan Rourke hit Jevon Cottoy for a go-ahead touchdown to make it an unlikely seeming, (at the time), 13-7 lead to the visitors at the half.  Then it exploded into life in the third quarter as the teams racked up 36 points between them.

In the first half BC had managed to limit Bo Levi Mitchell to just 56 yards passing. To start the second half, he hit Tim White for a 54-yard bomb then threw a 22-yard touchdown pass to Jevoni Robinson. The Ticats had the lead again and it was game on as the teams started exchanging scores and leads the rest of the way.

Hamilton managed three third quarter touchdowns and BC kept pace with 15 points of their own to see the game tied at 28-28 going into the final quarter. They were tied again in overtime and Hamilton had the ball first. Tim White caught a tipped ball but fumbled it away meaning the visitors had a chance for all the marbles on their next drive.

Back in Week 5 Lions kicker Sean Whyte hit a walkoff winner. He did that again here, in overtime, to give the Lions the win and push them to 4-5 whilst Hamilton slipped to 6-3. That is the ninth time he has hit a walkoff winner in his long CFL career.

Bo Levi Mitchell who is having a vintage season threw for over 300 yards for the seventh time in nine games this year, finishing this one 23 of 33 for 305 yards and 3 touchdowns. Nathan Rourke led a BC Lions offence that more than kept pace with the Ticats here accumulating 514 net yards including a performance that saw the Canadian QB finish the game 24 of 40 for 408 yards with 2 touchdowns and 1 interception.

Rourke was ably assisted by his running back and ex-Ticat James Butler who had 14 carries for 85 yards and a touchdown and 4 catches for 55 yards and another score. As well as Justin McInnis who had 8 catches for 159 yards and Ayden Eberhardt who had 3 receptions for 120 yards.

The second game of the weekend had the Montreal Alouettes facing the Edmonton Elks. It was the visiting Elks team that came away with the narrowest margin of victory 23-22. Although it took until late on to find the spark, Als fans might have felt something familiar to all this as their former Grey Cup winning QB echoed some of that performance here. On that day Cody Fajardo, now leading the Elks attack, rallied the troops then threw the winning score late. For this game against Montreal, he was quoted as saying ‘You know what losers say? They say, ‘we’re close’ Let’s just finish it’,” before going out and leading the comeback win. With Edmonton behind in the final minute, he led a six-play, 63-yard touchdown drive for the upset win, finding receiver Kaion Julien-Grant for the deciding score with 11 seconds left on the clock.

Conversely the Alouettes are really feeling the absence of starter Davis Alexander. Alexander has become only the second CFL QB to ever win their first eight starts. Without him in the lineup from last season into this Montreal are 1-5 without their leader.

Fajardo finished this game 27 of 38 for 289 yards and 2 touchdowns for the Elks whilst for Montreal McLeod Bethel-Thompson started and went 10 of 15 for 79 yards and saw Tyrell Ford return a pick-six for the visitors before he was replaced by Caleb Evans who finished the game 14 of 18 for 113 yards and a touchdown.

Last week Canadian receiver Kaion Julien-Grant couldn’t hold on to a potential game winner against Hamilton. This week he made up for that, whilst he had 5 catches for 45 yards and 2 touchdowns in the game, it was in the fourth quarter the ex Alouette really shone. Getting both of his touchdowns, one to keep it close and one for the winning score with seconds on the clock.

The third game of the weekend was between the Ottawa RedBlacks and the Toronto Argonauts at BMO Field in Toronto. This one turned into another back-and-forth affair and it was the visitors who walked away with the win, taking a close high-scoring game 46-42.

Dru Brown had his best game of the season leading Ottawa in this one by throwing for 373 yards and 5 touchdowns. Justin Hardy caught 7 passes for 106 yards and 2 touchdowns, Bralon Addison had 7 catches for 115 yards and a touchdown, and Eugene Lewis snared 5 catches for 51 yards and 2 touchdowns as Brown hit six different receivers throughout the game.

Nick Arbuckle also had a good game for the Argos going 32 of 38 for 317 yards with 3 touchdowns and 1 interception, as well as 6 carries for 19 yards and a score. The pick was critical however, coming at the worst time and effectively closing out the win for the visitors. Whilst the passing attack was there for the Boatmen, they have struggled with the ground game this year and the RedBlacks held them to 49 yards rushing here.

Having a bye seems to have refreshed the RedBlacks as they went into it 1-6 and in the two games since have scored 77 points and won two on the road. At the same time Toronto have fallen from 2-5 to 2-7 to sit alone in the East Division basement.

For the second time this season Argos Head Coach Ryan Dinwiddie had some choice words to say to the press about his players. Going from 46-22 heading into this season with 3 Division titles and 2 Grey Cups he is not enjoying the apparent fall from grace for his team in 2025.

The final game of the weekend was in Calgary, where the Calgary Stampeders took on the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. The weekend ended as it began with another walk-off win. This time it was Rene Paredes hitting the winner for the Stampeders as Calgary took the game 28-27.

Leading the Stamps, Vernon Adams Jr was 17 of 24 for 300 yards with 2 touchdowns. Which means in the three games he has played against Winnipeg this season (a clean sweep for Calgary) he has thrown for 789 yards and 6 touchdowns. Blue Bombers’ fans may be glad this is the last they will see of him in the regular season this year.

Dedrick Mills who was held in check so well by Ottawa last week had a bounce back game as he had 18 carries for 105 yards to give the Stamps attack some balance.

Winnipeg made the better start getting out to an early lead before Calgary bounced back. They were led by Zach Collaros who was 21 of 26 for 214 yards with a touchdown, and Brady Oliveira who had 12 carries for 68 yards and 9 receptions for 100 yards.

We have said it many times before, but special teams really do matter. Especially in close games, and both teams got something from their kickers here. For Winnipeg, Sergio Castillo hit on all his kicks and made a CFL record-tying 63-yard kick to give the Blue Bombers the lead. In total he accounted for 15 of his team’s 27 points. At the same time, Calgary kicker Rene Paredes went 4 for 5 on his attempts, (4 being the most field goals he has made in a game this season), kicked three consecutive field goals to give Calgary their first lead of the game, and ultimately kicked a 40-yard game winning field goal while accounting for 14 of his team’s 28 points.

With the victory, the Stampeders improve to 6-3 on the season, while the Blue Bombers fall to 4-4.

Week 11 starts out with the RedBlacks at Winnipeg in the early hours of Friday morning UK time. The best game of the weekend time wise for UK fans to watch is probably the game between the Roughriders and Tiger-Cats in Saskatchewan being played at 8PM UK time on Saturday. That said, all the games are available free on CFL+. The league’s free streaming service is a great way to check out some CFL action and see what you think of it. They are also available to catch up the next morning so there is every chance to see some three-down action.

MOP's of Week 10:

O – Dru Brown QB, Ottawa RedBlacks: 26 of 31 for 373 yards and 5 touchdowns.

D – Jacob Roberts LB, Calgary Stampeders: 11 tackles, 1 sack, 1 tackle for loss, 1 special team’s tackle.

ST – Sergio Castillo K, Winnipeg Blue Bombers: 4 for 4 on field goals, including a CFL record 63 yard make. 6 for 6 on all kicks. 4 kickoffs for 307 yards, averaging 76.8 yards per kick, 1 single point on a 100-yard kickoff.

Interdivisional Standings 2025 This Week: East Division 0 West Division 2

Interdivisional Standings 2025 season: East Division 7 West Division 11

CHRIS LAWTON

CFL ANALYST

Chris originally started following the NFL with the ‘first wave’ of fans when it was shown on Channel 4 in the 1980’s. He has been a keen supporter of the Miami Dolphins since 1983. Chris first encountered the CFL in 2016 and instantly fell in love with the Canadian game. He has been writing about the CFL 2017. Chris has a degree in history, postgraduate degree in librarianship and can be found on twitter as @CFLfanUK

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