Rourke to start for Lions in regular-season finale versus Blue Bombers

SURREY, B.C. — There were days this fall when B.C. Lions quarterback Nathan Rourke needed to take his mind off football.

After a stunning start to the CFL season, the Canadian was sidelined in mid-August by a foot injury that required surgery and doctors ordered him to stay off the field.

“For a good second there, I was trying to forget about football," Rourke said Tuesday. "I was trying to distract myself with friends and family and their support.

"I watched a lot of things on the internet. … There were days where you don't want to even think about it. So I just went on movie marathons and stuff like that."

Now, after nearly nine weeks of recovery and rehabilitation, the 24-year-old is getting back into game action.

Lions head coach and co-general manager Rick Campbell said Tuesday that he expects Rourke to start on Friday when B.C. (12-5) wraps its regular-season campaign against the league-leading Blue Bombers (14-3) in Winnipeg.

Rourke will play "about a quarter" just to get back into the rhythm of a game, Campbell said.

“It's part of what we've talked about over the weeks," he said. "We could go the route of just letting him play in the (West Division semifinal), but I think he's going to feel better getting back out there and getting some live action and just getting back to it. So that's all part of this whole path back to playing.”

The Ohio University alum is pleased with the plan.

“I'm just happy to be able to have a chance to play and I think this week is a bonus, for sure," Rourke said. "I think that throughout the process, we were pretty sure that I was going to be able to play in the playoff games and we were kind of wait-and-see about anything else. To be at this point is pretty cool.”

The six-foot-two,