Montreal Alouettes lose another quarterback in lopsided 36-18 loss to B.C. Lions

B.C. Lions quarterback Nathan Rourke, back right, hands off to James Butler during the first half of a CFL football game against the Montreal Alouettes, in Vancouver, on Saturday, Aug. 16, 2025. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press)

VANCOUVER — The Montreal Alouettes will turn to yet another quarterback next week after Caleb Evans was sidelined by a knee injury in a 36-18 loss to the B.C. Lions on Saturday.

The 27-year-old American was sacked by Sione Teheuma early in the second quarter and lay on the turf at B.C. Place for several minutes, grasping his leg. Trainers came out to take a look and he eventually walked off the field gingerly with help from his teammates.

Evans spent the rest of the half sitting on the sidelines without his pads on and was spotted after the game using crutches with a large bandage wrapped around his right knee.

Head coach Jason Maas said the quarterback will miss next week’s game against the Toronto Argonauts in Montreal, but his long-term prognosis is less clear.

“It was just unfortunate. I feel bad for Caleb,” he said. “He’s worked hard to get back from injury, a long, hard road to get back and then have another injury with an opportunity to start and play. Just devastating.”

The Als’ quarterback room has been plagued by injuries this season, with No. 1 Davis Alexander suffering a hamstring injury and backup McLeod Bethel-Thompson hurting his elbow. Both are on the six-game injured list.

Saturday marked Evans’ first start in more than a year.

Seeing a player go down when he had an opportunity to prove himself is hard, said Lions quarterback Nathan Rourke.

“You never want to see anybody hurt, quarterback or not. You understand the work and the preparation it takes to get to each game, all throughout the week, all the work they put in over the off-season,” he said.

“As a guy that has been a backup quarterback at times in my career, I know that the opportunities you get are minimal. Sometimes the windows are very, very tight. And so you want to be able to make the most of your opportunity. And so it’s kind of heartbreaking, obviously, when that’s cut short by something that’s really out of your control.”

Evans connected on 3-of-4 passing attempts for 32 yards and was sacked three times before leaving the game.

He was replaced by James Morgan who amassed 211 passing yards, making good on 20 of his 33 attempts with one touchdown — the first of his CFL career — and one interception.

“I thought he did a tremendous job,” Maas said of Morgan’s showing.

“He hasn’t got a whole lot of reps in the last eight, nine weeks. This week, we didn’t practise a lot anyway, so he had no reps. And so for him to go out and do what he did offensively, I commend him, because he prepares like a starter. And he obviously proved it tonight.”

Tyler Snead drove in the lone major for Montreal and kicker Jose Maltos Diaz made four field goals, including one for 41 yards, as the Als (5-5) dropped a third straight game.

Rourke excelled, putting up 382 passing yards with four touchdowns and one interception.

Receiver Keon Hatcher chalked up two TDs for B.C. (5-5), while Justin McInnis and Stanley Berryhill III had one apiece. Sean Whyte booted three field goals, with his longest sailing 46 yards through the uprights.

The Lions got on the board early, thanks to a 23-yard field goal from Whyte, but struggled to capitalize in the red zone.

“I think there was a lot of frustration, because we know what we’re capable of, and we know that we’re dancing around that kind of ceiling and we’re really close to getting there, to our full potential. We’re just a couple things away,” Rourke said.

B.C. capped the first half with the Canadian quarterback dishing off to McInnis for a five-yard major and the home side’s offence kept on rolling in the third quarter.

“We just knew that there’s nothing special that was going to come,” Rourke said. ”We knew what we had to do. It was just going down and executing and doing the little, easy things, simple things right, and doing them well. And we did that more in the second half, which is good.”

Hatcher’s first touchdown of the night came midway through the third when Rourke found him just inside the end zone for an eight-yard toss.

They teamed up once again in the fourth after Rourke hit Ayden Eberhardt with a 49-yard bomb to give B.C. a first down at Montreal’s 21-yard line.

Hatcher followed up by reeling in an 18-yard pass from the QB, then evaded a tackle to step into the end zone. Another convert from Whyte gave the Lions a 30-12 lead.

The Lions weren’t done yet.

With nearly six minutes left on the game clock, Rourke sent an arching 29-yard toss to Berryhill in the end zone for another major.

Penalties proved to be a problem for B.C. across the game. The Lions were called 12 times for a total of 137 yards — something that head coach Buck Pierce said was “absolutely” a concern as his team fights to nab a playoff berth.

“For us to get where we want to go, that’s got to be cleaned up. That’s got to be cleaned up as soon as possible,” he said. ”We’ve got to make sure we’re putting the focus on where it needs to be and that’s playing much cleaner than we have in the previous number of weeks.”

NOTES

An announced crowd of 23,318 people took in the game at B.C. Place, including Florida Panthers forward Sam Reinhart, who was shown on the big screen wearing a Lions hat. … B.C. announced that former linebacker Solomon Elimimian will have his No. 56 retired on Oct. 4 when the Lions host the Calgary Stampeders.

UP NEXT

Alouettes: Host the Winnipeg Blue Bombers (5-4) on Thursday.

Lions: Visit the Toronto Argonauts (2-8) on Saturday, Aug. 23.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 16, 2025.

Gemma Karstens-Smith, The Canadian Press