Taylor Shire, Regina Leader-Post
On Friday night in Week 19 of the CFL season, the Roughriders improved to 12-4 on the year with a 27-19 victory over the Toronto Argonauts (5-12) in front of an announced attendance of 27,500 at Mosaic Stadium.
With the win, the Roughriders clinched first place in the division with two regular season games left. Next Friday, Saskatchewan will visit the Winnipeg Blue Bombers before hosting the B.C. Lions on Oct. 25. The Roughriders will then play host to the West final on Nov. 8.
“You want to maximize the regular season and that has been done,” said Riders quarterback Trevor Harris. “Now we get a bonus three weeks to refine and fine tune ourselves into being who we need to be come Nov. 8.
“We’ll just kind of keep our focus one day at a time and make sure that we’re improving and so that we are that team on that date.”
“It sounds lame, but if you just focus on the on the week, and what that is and get that done, naturally, boxes are going to be checked,“ added Riders head coach Corey Mace. “But I think this one, to be able to play the West final here in Regina and the province of Saskatchewan get to take that in, that’s going to be pretty cool.”
In the victory, Harris completed 23 of 29 passes for 340 yards with touchdown passes to Joe Robustelli and Tommy Nield while Samuel Emilus led all receivers with 142 yards on six catches, including a highlight-reel 44-yard grab in the fourth quarter over the helmet of a Toronto defender.
“We know what’s at stake and what we’re trying to accomplish,” said Emilus. “We’re all a big family and we’re just trying to get accomplished one goal.”
On defence, Saskatchewan limited Argonauts quarterback Jarrett Doege to 221 passing yards while linebacker A.J. Allen was able to notch a game-clinching interception in the final minute.
“It always feels good to go 1-0,” said Allen, who also had a team-high seven tackles and a sack. “We’re not going to apologize for it.
“Going 1-0 is the goal so we’ll continue to do that until there’s a big ring on our fingers.”
Kicker Brett Lauther also contributed 15 points to Saskatchewan’s victory as he made all five of his field goals on the night in his return after a one-game absence.
“Everything we need, we have in this room,” said Lauther. “I was just able to go tonight and kind of do my thing. A lot of their guys did their thing, and that’s what accumulates us winning the game.
“Your one home win away from the Grey Cup and for us, this was one of our goals at the start of the year. It’s just another check off the list, but we haven’t really done or accomplished anything yet.”
In the game, after Toronto opened the scoring with a punt single, Saskatchewan scored the first touchdown of the game as Harris connected with Robustelli on a 12-yard strike.
From there, the teams combined for five field goals in the opening 30 minutes as Lauther connected from 37, 37 and 44 yards out while Toronto’s Lirim Hajrullahu hit from 54 and 20 yards out which made it 15-7 Saskatchewan at halftime.
In the second half, after a fumble by Riders running back A.J. Ouellette on his own 30-yard line, the Argonauts scored their first touchdown of the night on the next play as Doege connected with Dejon Brissett on a 30-yard strike. A two-point convert was unsuccessful as Saskatchewan’s lead was trimmed to two.
However, the Roughriders quickly answered back as Harris drove 62 yards on seven plays before hitting Nield on a 13-yard touchdown pass to make it 21-13 after the two-point convert was missed.
On Toronto’s next drive, the Argonauts added a 38-yard field goal to make it 21-16 before Lauther made a 22-yarder early in the fourth quarter. Hajrullahu then responded with a 41-yard field goal to make it 24-19.
With time winding down, Harris found Emilus for the highlight-reel grab to get Saskatchewan into scoring range before Lauther connected on his fifth field goal of the night, this one from 22 yards, to make it 27-19 Saskatchewan with 1:06 left.
Down by eight and needing a touchdown, Doege was intercepted by Allen to secure the victory for the Riders, who were able to run out the clock in the final minute.
The Roughriders, who were already without a couple of key starters including defensive backs Rolan Milligan and Tevaughn Campbell, lost receiver KeeSean Johnson early in the game to a knee injury as well.
Now with first place secured and two games left, Saskatchewan can map out how the next few weeks will go when it comes to resting players and getting healthy leaving decisions that will have to be made in terms of who can return to the lineup and when, with the ultimate goal of having the best roster assembled on Nov. 8.
“Definitely something we’ll sit down and talk as a staff to just kind of plan of what we’d like to do,” said Mace. “And to be honest you, rest isn’t always the answer, so I think it’s a player-by-player basis, and we’ll look at it and make a decision.
“I would think that that would be the biggest benefit is just you have a hard timeline to be able to get some guys back and see what that looks like. And hopefully come time for the playoffs, we’ll be back at as full of strength as possible.”
“Obviously for us at this point, I think it’s about getting healthy,” added Harris. “By that time, hopefully we can get some guys back that are dinged up and let some guys rest that kind of need it.
“Obviously teams do it every year, they win the semifinal and they win the final, but there is a massive advantage to it that you get a prep week where you can sharpen your axe all week, and then you get a home game, and you’ve just got to win one home game to get to the show.
“And so that’s what our whole mindset will be. But make no mistake, we’re going to backtrack. We’ll enjoy this tonight. We’ll come in tomorrow, talk about the game, fine tune things, and then put our focus on Winnipeg next week.”
