Taylor Shire
Regina Leader-Post
The Saskatchewan Roughriders picked up a victory in Ottawa for the first time since 2017.
With a 20-13 win over the Redblacks on Friday night in Week 18 of the CFL season, the Roughriders — who snapped a two-game losing skid — improved to 11-4 on the season while the Redblacks dropped to 4-11, eliminating them from playoff contention.
The Riders, who have already secured a playoff berth, can now officially clinch a home playoff game if the B.C. Lions lose to the Calgary Stampeders on Saturday evening. Saskatchewan returns to action next Friday at home against the Toronto Argonauts in Week 19.
As for how this game went, Roughriders quarterback Trevor Harris threw a touchdown pass and completed 27 of 33 passes for 341 yards, which put him over 4,000 yards on the season for the fifth time in his career.
And while the Roughriders offence got off to a strong start with a touchdown on the first drive of the game, the group was forced to punt the ball away on the next seven drives before scoring a second offensive touchdown early in the fourth quarter to make it 20-3 against the Redblacks, who couldn’t get anything going offensively themselves.
“I don’t think it’s any secret, it’s not what our standard is,” said Harris, who completed 16 of 17 passes in the second half. “I thought we started out well, but I think it was a lot of self-inflicted wounds tonight.
“We’ve got to get those cleaned up. But I thought it was a good character win tonight. Across this league, it’s hard to win. There’s tons of talent across the league, and as many self-inflicted wounds as we had, to still come away with a win, I thought was encouraging, but we would love to be able to finish that a little bit cleaner, obviously.”
Harris’ top target on the night was Dohnte Meyers, who had a season-high 158 receiving yards on six catches, with one of those being a 66-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter. Running back A.J. Ouellette, who handled short-yardage duties on Friday night, also had a touchdown for the Riders as part of an 18-carry, 53-yard performance. Ouellette also had a touchdown-saving tackle in the fourth quarter after a Harris fumble.
“He did so much stuff tonight; picking up blitzes, running the ball no doubt,” said Roughriders head coach Corey Mace. “But that play he made after the turnover, I mean, we championed the sh*t of that. That was an incredible play by him to be able to do that for his teammates.
“A lot of people let that play happen and they score a touchdown. For him to be able to run that guy down, that is the epitome of this culture in that locker room in one single play.”
As for Saskatchewan’s defence, the group intercepted Redblacks quarterback Dru Brown three times in the game before he was replaced by Dustin Crum. One of those interceptions was returned for a touchdown by linebacker Antoine Brooks Jr., who was making just his second start of the season.
“Our communication was very big this week,” said Brooks, who had picks alongside fellow linebackers A.J. Allen and Jameer Thurman. “(With) A.J. and Thurm, we actually made sure that we did a lot of different talking and coverages and certain things just to make sure that we can execute.”
After forcing the Redblacks to punt on the opening series, the Roughriders put together an efficient 12-play, 84-yard drive capped off with Ouellette plunging into the end zone from a yard out to put the Riders up 6-0, as the convert by rookie Campbell Fair was missed.
Early in the second quarter, it was the Roughriders defence scoring as Brooks intercepted Brown and returned it 85 yards for a touchdown. The Riders were successful on their two-point convert attempt as they went up 14-0.
On Ottawa’s next series, the Roughriders defence secured another turnover as Allen picked off Brown near midfield however the Riders were forced to punt it away.
And on the ensuing punt by Jesse Mirco, Redblacks returner Kalil Pimpleton appeared to return it 97 yards for a touchdown, but the play was called back on an illegal block by Ottawa.
Before the first half was up, the Redblacks got on the board as Lewis Ward kicked a 25-yard field goal to make it 14-3.
After the Riders punted the ball away for a fifth consecutive drive to open the second half, Saskatchewan’s defence gave the offence another crack at it as Thurman made a leaping interception off Brown, who threw his third pick of the night and was replaced by Crum on the next series.
The Roughriders weren’t to convert the turnover into points however, as they punted it away for a sixth consecutive drive.
Early in the fourth quarter, the Roughriders offence found a spark as Harris hit Meyers over the middle before the speedy receiver broke free and sprinted 66 yards to the end zone for the touchdown. However, Fair missed his second convert as Saskatchewan took a 20-3 lead.
With eight minutes left, the Redblacks scored their first touchdown of the night as Crum marched the Redblacks 66 yards on 11 plays, hitting Justin Hardy for a nine-yard touchdown pass to make it 20-10 with the convert.
On the next drive, the Roughriders were able to take eat up plenty of valuable time on the clock as Ouellette rumbled for a pair of first downs before Harris hit Meyers for a 36-yard gain, which put the receiver over the 1,000-yard mark on the season and got the Riders into scoring position.
However on the next play, Harris got hit and fumbled the ball on the five-yard line which was scooped up by Redblacks defensive lineman Bryce Carter, who returned it 81 yards before he was tracked down by Ouellette, who made a touchdown-saving tackle on Saskatchewan’s 16-yard line.
The Redblacks settled for a field goal on the drive to make it 20-13 with 2:05 left.
As the Roughriders looked to chip away at the remaining time, Harris hit KeeSean Johnson for a 14-yard gain before connecting with Meyers on a 25-yarder before Ouellette had a pair of carries to secure the victory.
Early in the fourth quarter, Roughriders halfback Rolan Milligan attempted to make a tackle and his right leg bent awkwardly behind him. He was able to walk off the field under his own power. There was no update on his status immediately after the game, but Mace said it didn’t appear to be anything serious.
As for what’s next, the Green and White are back to their winning ways after a two-game slide as they now have a CFL-best 11 wins heading into the final three games of the season.
And while they opened up a six-point lead on first place in the West Division after Friday’s win, the group is not satisfied with anything just yet.
“Definitely not a sigh of relief,” said Harris. “During an 18-game season, you’re going to have times where it’s not going quite smooth.
“And tonight, I thought we played good football. It was just a matter of us hurting ourselves and self-inflicted wounds, which hasn’t been the case this year. I thought we were clunky offensively last game, until the very end, when we kind of got no huddle and started really pushing the ball going fast.
“Tonight wasn’t clunky, per se. We moved the football. We were getting first downs. We just took some big plays off the field, and that’s really on us and us. And it’s on us to be better.
“That’s not something that I worry about, but it’s something that we’ll address for sure. But make no mistake, I have full confidence that this team is going to be right where we need to be, and we’ve got three weeks to get it right, and I can assure you that I’ll be turning it over every stone possible to make it right, because this group has a chance to get it done, and we’re not going to waste this opportunity.”
tshire@postmedia.com
