CFL alerted to ‘incident’ after BC Lions win against the Stampeders


Postmedia and TSN report Calgary linebacker Cam Judge threw a punch at Lions receiver Lucky Whitehead. Whether or not it was a ‘sucker punch’ seems to be up for debate.

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Something happened between the B.C. Lions and Calgary Stampeders after the Lions’ recorded a 31-29 overtime win at Calgary’s McMahon Stadium Saturday.

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We’re not sure exactly what, but Lions co-general manager Neil McEvoy explained via text message later Saturday that there was “an incident post game. We have alerted the league.” 

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The Lions, of course, meet the Stampeders again next Saturday at B.C. Place. 

TSN’s Farhan Lalji was reporting on Twitter that he was “told Cam Judge sucker-punched Lucky Whitehead,” and that it “apparently happened on the field at the end of game.” 

Whitehead, the Lions receiver, then backed up having some sort of episode with Calgary linebacker Judge. Whitehead responded directly to Lalji’s tweet with, “And I Pray he travels next week. Cause he could’ve said something at halftime when we have to cross paths to go into the locker room!”

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Danny Austin, who covers the Stampeders for our sister Calgary Sun and Calgary Herald newspapers, balked at that version of the story, tweeting that the sucker punch was “not accurate in the view of several people who saw the Judge-Whitehead confrontation. 

“Ultimately, I can only report what I have been told. I was told Whitehead repeatedly said things about Judge’s family, which led to a confrontation after the game and a punch,” Austin tweeted.

Austin also tweeted: “A source I trust told me they were squared up and there was a punch, but not at all a sucker-punch.”

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Win gives the Lions the season series edge

If the Lions wind up hosting a playoff game this season, Saturday’s efforts will be looked upon as one of the main reasons why.

B.C.’s win over Stampeders assures the Lions the season series between the two clubs, meaning that the Lions (9-3) get the nod if they wind up tied with the Stampeders (8-5) in the year-end standings.

Second place in the West Division hosts third place in the first round. That’s what we’d have right now with the Lions and the Stampeders, who are both trying to chase down the Winnipeg Blue Bombers (12-2).

B.C.’s final six games start with a rematch against Calgary next Saturday at B.C. Place. That’s followed by hosting the Ottawa Redblacks (3-9), visiting the Toronto Argonauts (7-5), hosting Winnipeg and visiting the Edmonton Elks (4-10), before travelling to Winnipeg for their regular season finale on Oct. 28. 

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Calgary’s remaining four games after playing B.C. next week include hosting first Toronto, then the Hamilton Tiger-Cats (4-9), before travelling to the Saskatchewan Roughriders (6-8), and then hosting the Roughriders to wrap league play on Oct. 29.

Calgary kicker Rene Paredes was wide left on a 48-yard field goal attempt with 23 seconds remaining in regulation Saturday and the score knotted at 23-23. After B.C. opened overtime with an 18-yard touchdown run from James Butler and a two-point convert from quarterback Antonio Pipkin, Calgary followed by getting a four-yard touchdown catch from Jalen Philpot but failed on the two-point convert when Jake Maier was incomplete to Reggie Begelton.

If either of those two things played out differently, it’s likely B.C.’s chances of hosting a playoff game wouldn’t look quite as good right now.

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“I can’t give our players enough credit for winning twice here in Calgary. They’re a really good team,” said Lions head coach Rick Campbell, whose team also pulled out a 41-40 decision over the Stampeders there on Aug. 13. “I’m proud of the way our guys battled. I think they had a good idea this game was going to be close. We talked about it ahead of time and that we needed to keep our poise and keep our belief and keep grinding and whoever makes more plays is going to win the game in the fourth quarter and we made one ore than they did.”

Win ‘means so much’ for Adams Jr.

Vernon Adams Jr. was 25-of-32 for 294 yards, with no touchdowns and no interceptions. It was his first extended playing time since Week 1, when he was 18-of-32 or 250 yards, with one touchdown and two interceptions, for the Montreal Alouettes against Calgary. That was three months ago.

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It’ll be interesting to see how comfortable he is with another week of practice under his belt. Adams, 29, came to the Lions in an Aug. 31 trade with the Alouettes as B.C. looked to shore up its quarterback situation with Nathan Rourke (foot) likely sidelined for the season.

B.C. Lions quarterback Vernon Adams Jr. was 25-of-32 for 294 yards against the Calgary Stampeders on Saturday.
B.C. Lions quarterback Vernon Adams Jr. was 25-of-32 for 294 yards against the Calgary Stampeders on Saturday. Photo by Al Charest /Postmedia

“It means so much. It means a lot. It’s been a roller-coaster type of year,” Adams said of getting the win. “We had a great week of practice. Guys took me in. I had a bad practice on Day 1 and the guys still stayed with me.

“All these guys are playmakers. It helps a lot. I need to do a better job getting them the ball, going through my reads, not skipping anything and just getting completions.”

Adams’ best season came in 2019, when he passed for 3,942 yards and 24 touchdowns in 16 games with Montreal. That year, he also ran for 394 yards on 82 carries, which works out to five rushing attempts per game.

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He ran three times for 32 yards against Montreal Saturday, highlighted by a 15-yard scamper in the third quarter. We’ll see if that number goes up with more experience with the Lions.

Tough night for referees

The game had its messy moments with 21 penalties for 215 yards, led by 12 flags to Calgary for 128 yards. The TSN play-by-play team of Dustin Neilson and Glen Suitor even mentioned the referees having a tough night several times.

The penalty issues didn’t register with Campbell, who said afterwards: “I thought it was a good football game, a hard-fought game. I know there was a lot of penalties. It wasn’t on my mind. I’m happy about the win right now.”

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