Darrell Davis
Regina Leader-Post
This was supposed to be the toughest part of the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ CFL season.
Hahahahaha!
Starting with a road game against the hard-to-beat-at-home Montreal Alouettes, followed by a visit from the red-hot Hamilton Tiger-Cats, a trip to avenge Saskatchewan’s lone loss to the Calgary Stampeders and ending with a home-and-home set versus the perennially strong Winnipeg Blue Bombers, this five-game sequence would reveal if the Roughriders were contenders or pretenders.
They’re certainly for real, with their CFL-best 7-1 record and 4-0 mark in road games.
And it’s definitely gotta get tougher than Saturday’s game in Montreal, where a 20-minute lightning delay at halftime extended the home team’s only refuge from a 34-6 pummelling inflicted by the Roughriders.
Playing in Percival Molson Memorial Stadium, where the Roughriders hadn’t won since 2021, their offence scored a touchdown on its opening drive and didn’t even need to reappear because their defence took over with disruptive five- and six-man pass rushes against a team that was missing its starting quarterback, centre and two top receivers.
Saskatchewan limited Montreal to 169 offensive yards and two long field goals by Jose Maltos Diaz.
Montreal was embarrassingly ineffective under the direction of experienced backup quarterback McLeod Bethel-Thompson and never reached Saskatchewan’s 45-yard line. Defensive linemen Shane Ray and Mike Rose sacked Bethel-Thompson plus middle linebacker Jameer Thurman had an impressive interception.
The Roughriders gained 418 yards offensively and had possession for nearly 37 of the game’s 60 minutes.
Playing against an Als defence without two starting DBs, Riders quarterback Trevor Harris was again amazingly accurate and got sacked only once behind an offensive line that is somehow dependable despite being in constant transition because of injuries.
Harris completed 19 of 27 passes for 289 yards with no interceptions while tossing touchdown passes to KeeSean Johnson and Tommy Nield, his first as a Rider. Short-yardage quarterback Tommy Stevens was deployed effectively to score the game’s opening touchdown and kill the final minutes of the fourth quarter.
It was very close to a perfect performance from the Roughriders.
Their running attack, led by A.J. Ouellette’s 74 yards on 15 carries and supplemented by shifty newcomer Mario Anderson’s 48 yards on five carries, wore down Montreal’s short-staffed defensive line, which featured end Shawn Lemon inconspicuously playing his first game since being suspended for gambling and performance-enhancing drug use.
The result would have been much more lopsided if kicker Brett Lauther hadn’t hit an upright on one of his five field goal attempts and the defensive backs hadn’t dropped certain interceptions, including two by safety Nelson Lokombo.
And the Roughriders could have buried the Alouettes earlier in the second quarter when, leading 14-3 and facing third-and-two on Montreal’s four-yard line, head coach Corey Mace sent in the short-yardage team. The intention was to draw the Alouettes offside, but staying onside was one of the rare things Montreal accomplished all game. So the Roughriders kicked a field goal to take a 17-3 lead.
A single by punter Joe Couch increased Saskatchewan’s lead to 18-3 at halftime and stirred up memories of 2024, when the Roughriders led 16-3 before falling 20-16 because of a scintillating, second-half performance from quarterback Davis Alexander.
That showing moved Alexander ahead of Caleb Evans and Cody Fajardo on Montreal’s depth chart, a decision that helped the Alouettes start this season with three straight victories before he was injured. Montreal is now 5-3.
In five of the Roughriders’ first six victories they suffered second-half swoons despite being the dominant team. It was especially notable in their last two wins, when they were outscored 14-0 in the fourth quarter of a 21-18 decision over the lowly Edmonton Elks and 8-0 in the final stanza of a 33-27 victory over the B.C. Lions.
While preparing to visit Montreal, the Roughriders vowed to keep the “pedal to the metal,” show their killer instinct and continue dominating their opponents to the very end of the contest. That’s exactly what they did against the Alouettes. And it looked surprisingly easy.
The Roughriders get a bye week before the Tiger-Cats visit Mosaic Stadium on Aug. 16. While the 6-2 Tiger-Cats look to extend their six-game winning streak with a game Thursday against the visiting Lions, this is a midseason break for the Riders to heal, refresh and remind themselves this really was supposed to be the most demanding part of their 2025 schedule.
