Both defences must prepare for a second quarterback, but it’ll be the starters who will be getting all the attention.
Harrison Frost for the Ticats (3-5) and Nathan Rourke for the Lions (4-5).
Scott Milanovich confirmed on Thursday that Frost, who returned to the team only a couple of weeks ago, would get the nod to start in Vancouver against the Lions Saturday night (7 p.m. Ticats Audio Network, TSN) after coming off the bench to relieve game-starter Tre Ford in a loss to Calgary last Saturday afternoon.
And while Kaidon Salter is in the mix for B.C. —and rushed for 160 yards in his starting debut last week in Winnipeg, the fifth highest in CFL history by a QB— “I’m expecting Mr. Rourke to be the starter,” Milanovich said, and his prediction was confirmed when BC announced its roster Friday.
“But we had to prepare for both. I haven’t spent much time this week watching their offence, but I think the good thing is our defence, with some of the things that we were doing with Tre, has got a little bit of history with some the QB run game so it shouldn’t be brand new for them.”
Milanovich had Ford run the “scout offence”, that portion of practice that mimics an upcoming opponent’s offensive tendencies—every CFL team does that every week—but the Cats are fortunate to have an experienced, fast and elusive pivot like Ford to mirror both Rourke’s and Salter’s skill sets.
The mobile Rourke, a graduate of the Burlington Stampeders’ minor program and the league’s reigning Most Outstanding Player, returns to the field after missing two full games with injury and running only two plays the game before, when he was injured.
“I think no matter who plays, I think after you run the football like (BC did in a win over Winnipeg last weekend) you don’t get away from it,” Milanovich said. “So, I expect them to try to pound the rock on us. Obviously, with Nathan, they’ve got the ability to throw it every down too. But you always have to stop the run first.”
First and last.
Zander Horvath—listed as the No. 2 running back behind ex-Cat James Butler, who has four TDs this year and always plays with motivation against his former team—will certainly see a lot of action after rushing for 191 yards and three touchdowns against Winnipeg, including a stunning 165 yards and a pair of majors in the fourth quarter off nine carries that clinched the win. While he’s been in Vancouver for two seasons, it was only his second CFL start, and in his first one, last year, he ran for 152 yards.
In Winnipeg, the Lions rushed for 377 yards, the most in the CFL over the past 16 years, and it was the only game in league history in which two players on the same team—Zander and Salter—rushed for at least 160 yards.
“It definitely catches your eye,” says Ticats’ boundary-side linebacker Braxton Hill. “So you know as a defence it’s going to be a big challenge for us to stop the run, especially with all the momentum they got last week against a good Winnipeg defence.”
It’s a reflection of the offence-crazy CFL 2026 season that BC is averaging 400 yards per game in net offence but ranks just sixth in the CFL.
But the Ticat defence, despite fourth-quarter troughs, has been the strongest portion of their game in the past few games and ranks second in yards allowed, just behind the Lions, who’ve improved dramatically on defence recently, led by Betts, former Ticat tackle Casey Sayles and middle linebacker Darnell Sankey.
“Their quarterback was the MOP last year, and they just ran for 377 yards, so you’re kind of damned if you do, damned if you don’t,” Milanovich acknowledges. “But you’ve got to stop the run, you’ve got to pressure the quarterback, no matter who it is. And get them in second-and-long.”
“If they can get into a situation where they’re pounding the rock on us, it’ll be a long night.”
Despite their rushing prowess, Rourke’s arm and time-buying legs, and receivers like Keon Hatcher and Justin McInnis, the Lions have surrendered 20 sacks this year, which may provide an opening for the Ticat defence. BC is going with three American interior offensive linemen.
The Hamilton defence did a good job against Calgary power back Dedrick Mills last week, holding him to 44 yards on 10 carries. And overall, the defence has given up only 26.1 offensive points per game, which is in the upper tier of the CFL.
But the Cats have struggled in the fourth quarter and gave up 17 points late in the Calgary loss.
“Against Winnipeg, Calgary, Montreal, our offence has turned it over in the fourth quarter,” Milanovich said. “And that puts the defence in a bad situation that keeps them on the field longer. A lot of (getting better in the fourth) stems from us playing better offensively.”
“We’ve really improved on defence this year. I thought we played well last week defensively. I think the only thing, really, that’s missing is a solid performance offensively to keep them from being on the field as long.”
“And it’d be nice to play with the lead.”
Critical notion, that one. B.C. has been outscored 50-23 in the first quarter and has come up empty in the opening frame in each of the last two games and four times in their eight outings. But they’ve outscored the opposition 45-9 in the fourth quarters of the last four games. Conversely, over the same four-game stretch, the Ticats have been outscored 67-1 in the fourth quarters.
Moral of the stats story for the Cats: get a lead, build on it, and find a way into the end zone in the fourth. And keep getting the ball to their own runner, Larry Rountree III.
So much of that hinges on the offence, and Frost will get his chance to improve that side of the ball after coming in for Ford with three minutes to go in the first half last week and going 9-for-20 for 165 yards and a touchdown (Kenny Lawler), plus an interception.
But he hadn’t thrown a single pass with the starting unit in practice leading up to that game as the Cats were ramping up Ford for his start against Calgary, so a full practice week at the helm should make a difference to his timing and communication with the starting receiving corps.
Frost, who played at Mercer then at West Georgia where he set the school’s all-time single-season passing record, didn’t throw a CFL pass last year as he dressed for only five games as Bo Levi Mitchell took almost all the game and practice snaps. And his first Cat season, 2024, all his action—8-for-12, 95 yards, 1 TD—came in one mid-August game against Edmonton when he relieved Mitchell, who had already relieved the concussed Taylor Powell.
He spent the spring with St. Louis of the UFL and returned to Hamilton barely two weeks ago.
As the Cats reach the halfway point of the regular season, he will be the fourth quarterback to start a game.
And he’ll do it against a BC defence, coached by veteran Mike Benevides, which seems to be on the ascendancy, although there are still areas the Ticats can probe.
“They give you a lot of different looks,” Frost says. “Obviously they’re very talented across all positions and have a variety of blitz packages. So yeah, we’ve got to be prepared.”
Frost can go deep, and that can sometimes be a challenge for the Lions. Of his 20 throws last week, seven were 20 yards or longer and three went for completions, two of them for 40 yards or more.
But the offensive line will be looking to give him the time to find at least his first two or three primary targets. And that line, self-analytical to a fault, would be the first to tell you that.
The Cats will give rookie Jonathan Denis, the fifth-overall pick in this spring’s CFL Canadian draft, his first start. He spent the first six games of the season on the injured list and goes in at right guard. Nate Dumoulin-Duguay will be the backup across all positions.
Mitchell Agude joining the defensive line rotation and Canadians Tyler Ternowski (WR) and Charbel Dabire (DL) returning from the injured list are the only changes from last week’s depth chart.
With Toronto winning a last-second thriller against Calgary Thursday night, the Ticats have dropped a game behind their 4-4 QEW rivals. They’re looking to avoid their third consecutive loss as they hit the midway point of not only the season but of a gruelling stretch in which they play 10 weekends in a row without a bye.
The offence needs to keep the defence off the field and start scoring some touchdowns; the defence has to limit the first-down damage on the multi-pronged Lions run attack and create turnovers, and the Cats have to take advantage of the Lions’ propensity to start slowly, take penalties, surrender field position and give up points (49 so far) on turnovers.
And they must do it on the road, but, encouragingly, road teams have won 8 of the last 10 CFL games.
CATS CLAUSES
Praise for Ticat special-teams players from their former coordinator
Although he’s the one on the home team, it’ll be a homecoming for Dennis McKnight on Saturday night.
The 66-year-old had two separate stints as one of the most popular coaches—in the city and in the community—to ply his trade in Hamilton; from 2017 to 2019 as special teams coordinator, then offensive line coach—and again from 2024 to 2025 as special teams coordinator. He rejoined the Cats in 2024 following coaching stints at Washington State and in the XFL, when the Ticats released their offensive coordinator after the season’s first four games.
And this year the Lions released their special teams coordinator after four games and lured McKnight to Vancouver as special teams coordinator. He was golfing near his off-season home in San Diego, and on the fourth hole took a call from BC head coach Buck Pierce. He didn’t know Pierce well except by reputation but contends that former quarterbacks—like his friends June Jones and Scott Milanovich—make good head coaches to work for because little fazes them after years of being sacked, roughed and intercepted. He very quickly found the same with Pierce.
Because he was still in retirement when the Ticats beat the Lions in mid-June at Hamilton Stadium, this will be the first time he goes up against his old team, “and I’ll admit it’s going to be emotional for me,” he told Ticats Audio Network.
“It’s the city, the strength of the organization, and the people there, their hard work and their history,” he said. “It’s mainly the players I had on specials; you look at Tyler Ternowski, you look at Ryan Baker, how he’s grown; look at Daniel Bell, Gordon Whyte, Ante Litre …everybody. And Owen Hubert, what a frickin’ football player he’s become.
“And to see Isaiah Wooden who has become upper echelon and in my heart is the best returner in the league. Elite speed, you’re not going to tackle him just by hitting him; you’ve got to reach and grab hard and hold on. To know that you had a little part of that makes you feel good. I remember that first game against Ottawa at the end of the ’24 season; he didn’t have great ball skills, but coach (Milanovich) said we’ll put him on kickoff. On kickoff, there’s a pile and he suddenly just breaks loose for a touchdown. That’s Speedy B stuff.”
NOTES AND QUOTES: Hamilton’s Marc Liegghio is 15-for-16 in field goals this year and his 87.4 % career success rate is fourth highest in CFL history … DEs Julian Howsare and Phil Ossai each have 4 sacks, two off the league lead … RB Larry Rountree III is on pace for 1010 yards and has carried the ball at least 12 times in each of the last 3 games … S Stavros Katsantonis’s 3 interceptions are tied for 2nd in the CFL … Kenny Lawler, while having only 8 catches the past 3 games has TDs in 5 of the last 6 … head coach Scott Milanovich likes QB Harrison Frost’s throwing accuracy and Saturday night’s starter says that comes from repetition, “From the time you’re 14, 15 years old, you’re making the throws all the time. You don’t throw to a guy; you throw to a spot. Throwing to a spot is a big thing in the professional game.” … The Ticats have signed Canadian LB Jayden Griffiths, who was the 60th overall draft choice in 2025 out of Wilfrid Laurier. He played 18 games last year for the Redblacks … B.C. DE Matthieu Betts, the reigning CFL Defensive MOP, is tied for the league lead with 6 sacks and has a sack in each of the last three games … veteran K Sean Whyte has made 17 of 19 FGs, and ranks 2nd in CFL history for his career at 88.9%, spanning 646 attempts … Since the CFL went to interlocking schedules in 1961 the Lions lead the all-time Feline Bowl series against the Ticats 59-44 with 4 ties but need a win Saturday night to gain a fourth straight seasonal split of head-to-head games.
