It was, by any standard, a better-than-average night for Nik Lewis.
For starters, the Stampeders slotback led all receivers with seven catches in Friday’s 44-3 rout of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. His 131 yards were tops, too, as he boosted his season totals to 68 catches (first in the CFL) and 822 yards (third).
That would be enough for most players, but not Nik Lewis. In the process of putting together his big night, he knocked off milestone after milestone.
Like, 10,000 career yards. And 700 career receptions (on the same play as his 10-K catch, actually). And he also passed ex-Stamps Travis Moore and Jeremaine Copeland to take over 15th place on the CFL’s all-time list in receiving yards.
Moore and Lewis were never teammates — Moore left the Stamps in 2002 while Lewis arrived in 2004 — but Copeland was a Calgary colleague for five seasons.
“The student passes the teacher,” said Lewis. “I owe a lot to Cope because, without him, I’m probably still not a Calgary Stampeder or getting 10,000 yards. He did a lot to help my career and help me grow.”
Lewis went into last week’s game in Edmonton 92 yards short of 10,000 and was able to only take a 15-yard bite out of distance in the win over the Eskimos.
Friday, however, he wasted no time — 52 yards on his first catch, 16 yards on his second grab and then 17 more yards on his milestone-smasher.
“I felt great when I woke up this morning,” he said. “I wanted to do it here in Calgary because that’s where I’ve been my whole career.”
Lewis had company when it comes to noteworthy accomplishments — his quarterback Kevin Glenn cracked the 35,000-yard mark in career passing and moved ahead of Dieter Brock into 12th place on the all-time list.
“That was a great feat of its own,” said Lewis. “He’s been doing it for a while. He’s been a top quarterback in this league for a while and we trust him to lead us and we believe we can win it all with him. It’s good to see this team come together.”