Mitchell, Hamilton Tiger-Cats complete late comeback to beat B.C. Lions 37-33

B.C. Lions' James Butler (20) runs the ball past Hamilton Tiger-Cats' Stavros Katsantonis (30) during the first half of a CFL football game, in Vancouver, on Sunday, July 27, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

VANCOUVER — Even when his Hamilton Tiger-Cats were down 10 points with less than four minutes on the game clock, Kiondre Smith believed someone on his team would make a big play.

He was right.

Smith reeled in a last-minute touchdown reception on Sunday, lifting the Ticats (5-2) to an improbable 37-33 comeback victory over the B.C. Lions that stretched Hamilton’s win streak to five straight games.

“You just have to buckle down to the details and understand that you got to come back,” said the Canadian receiver.

“And with the group that we have this year and the staff that we have and what we’ve been doing in practice, the way we’ve been taking care of each other, there was never any doubt in there. It was just knowing that you had to do your job. Had to do your job and bite down. And we did that fully.”

B.C. pulled away with about four minutes left in the fourth quarter after Hamilton’s Greg Bell fumbled and Sione Teuhema recovered the ball.

Lions quarterback Nathan Rourke then lobbed a 43-yard toss to Ayden Eberhardt, giving the home side a first down at Hamilton’s two-yard line. Backup QB Jeremiah Masoli came on for short-yardage duty and propelled himself through a mass of bodies for a touchdown. Kicker Sean Whyte made the convert and the Lions took a 33-23 lead.

The Ticats weren’t about to go quietly, however.

Quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell sailed a 44-yard pass to Brendan O’Leary-Orange in the end zone and kicker Marc Liegghio made a convert that cut Hamilton’s deficit to three points.

On their next possession, Mitchell and his teammates worked their way up the field until, with 16 seconds left on the clock, the QB connected with an unmanned Smith for the game-winning major.

“I’m not gonna lie to you, I saw that pre snap,” Smith said of the play, which marked his second TD of the game. ”We had (players) bunched to the right, and they had two people out there. Someone was gonna be wide open. I’m fortunate enough for it to be me on that one.”

Mitchell made good on 34 of his 41 passing attempts on the night, throwing for 389 yards, three touchdowns and one interception.

“That man is amazing,” Smith said of the 35-year-old American. ”He’s a playmaker. He’s a baller. He ages like wine and is continuing to show.”

Jake Dolegala chalked up a rushing major for the Ticats, and Liegghio made four converts and three field goals, including a 40-yard attempt.

“I’m just so proud of these guys. Their confidence is building,” said Hamilton’s head coach Scott Milanovich. ”Most of all, their faith and their belief in their teammates is building. And they believe when the game’s on the line, that somebody’s gonna make plays. And that’s what happened.”

When a game slips away late, it comes down to a team’s mental toughness, said Lions defensive back Robert Carter Jr.

“It’s a game of inches, so I would definitely say we had to mentally lock in there,” he said. “And maybe one or two just wasn’t mentally there.”

Despite the final result, B.C. (3-5) had shining moments on Sunday.

Rourke threw for 289 yards, connecting on 20 of his 27 attempts, while Whyte made four field goals — including a 45-yard kick — and three converts.

Running back James Butler drove in a pair of TDs against his former team and rushed for 115 yards on 16 carries.

Midway through the second quarter, Rourke dished off to an unmanned Keon Hatcher Sr. in the midfield. The receiver took advantage, sprinting deep into Hamilton territory for a 73-yard gain. Whyte capped the scoring drive with a 22-yard field goal.

Carter made his own highlight reel-worthy play with just over a minute to go in the first half.

Mitchell launched a rainbow toward the end zone, where the corner back snuck up behind Hamilton’s O’Leary-Orange, leapt up and — with one hand — reeled in the ball.

Losing after some big moments hurts, Carter said.

“I would definitely say this is a devastating loss, just because we were up 10, three minutes left, you know?” he said. ”Like, you’ve got fans leaving the game, thinking, like, ‘Oh, this game is over.’ So I definitely thought we should have put that one away.”

Lions head coach Buck Pierce said his message to the team after the loss was that everyone in the locker room needs to understand the reality of where they are.

“And have the ability to look at yourselves and ask yourself, ‘What more can I do?’” he said. “Because we’ve got to be able to finish football games. We’ve got to be able to get ourselves to a point where we’re more consistent and find a way to close games out.”

B.C. is now headed into a bye week, and Pierce believes some time off will serve his group well.

“This is gonna sting for a while, right?” he said. “But they have to move past the emotion of it to grow. And that’s the big thing. It’s OK to let it hurt, and it’s OK to be a little hard on yourself right now. But you’ve got to move past that. And it’s a resilient group, a tough group.”

UP NEXT

Tiger-Cats: Visit the Edmonton Elks on Saturday.

Lions: Visit the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Thursday, Aug. 7.

This report by Gemma Karstens-Smith, The Canadian Press, was first published July 27, 2025.