Taylor Shire
Regina Leader-Post
The Saskatchewan Roughriders found some fourth-quarter magic as the Green and White snapped a two-game losing skid on Saturday night.
In Week 13 of the CFL season in front of a sold-out crowd of 33,350 at Mosaic Stadium, the Roughriders beat the Toronto Argonauts 28-24 to improve to 7-4. Toronto fell to 5-6.
“I honestly believe really good teams who want to go far places need character wins like that,” said Roughriders head coach Corey Mace. “Just to maintain the belief and trust that we have in that locker room.”
After finding themselves down 22-7 near the end of the first half, the Roughriders blocked a convert and returned it for two points before adding a field goal as time expired to cut the lead to 22-12 at the break.
In the second half, Saskatchewan didn’t allow a defensive point — only giving up two points on an offensive safety — while the offence scored 16 points including the game-winning touchdown by Stevens with 2:57 left.
“Just halftime details,” said Roughriders defensive back DaMarcus Fields. “I feel like the biggest thing that we did was just come into halftime and just make some changes and just get way more stickier to them guys.”
After throwing for 292 yards and three touchdowns in the first half alone, Argonauts quarterback Chad Kelly — who finished with 416 yards — was limited to 63 passing yards for much of the second half before adding 61 yards on two late catches before time expired.
Kelly, who was 4-0 in his career against Saskatchewan heading into the game, was also intercepted twice, as defensive back James Burgess Jr. notched his first career interception in the first half before safety Nelson Lokombo recorded one in the second half. Defensive tackle Caleb Sanders collected a pair of sacks.
Mace gave credit to his players along with the coaching staff, including defensive coordinator Joshua Bell, for their second-half defensive adjustments.
“I thought Bell did a good job,” said Mace. “I think he switched up quite a bit with the play calling, just based off of what we were seeing in the first half and the guys a bit down.
“All credit to the players and the coaching staff for being able to adjust on the go.”
As for Saskatchewan’s offence, a slow start was followed up with a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns, sandwiched between a safety that gave Toronto a three-point lead with 10 minutes left.
The Roughriders also benefited from an offside penalty by the Argonauts on their own four-yard line, which set up Saskatchewan’s fourth-quarter touchdown — a two-yard plunge by Tommy Stevens.
“It’s obviously a big win,” said Harris, who recovered his own fumble in the end zone which led to the safety minutes before the Roughriders took the lead. “It’s not how you draw them up obviously. It’s pro football though, and I thought their defence did a great job, and we had self-inflicted things that took us off the field in the first half.
“But we were able to kind of get in a groove in the second half and be able to find some spaces in their zone and when we did that … we could kind of create some running lanes and some gaps and some certain leverages that we liked, and we were able to run the ball effectively.
“We were able to stay on the field in the second half. Really, that’s what it comes down to for us is getting that first first down. As soon as we do that, I feel like we’re darn near impossible to stop.”
Harris, who didn’t have an interception for the first time in eight games, completed 23 of 36 passes for 313 yards and two touchdowns, with one to Dhel Duncan-Busby and the other to KeeSean Johnson, who led all receivers with 146 yards on 10 catches.
“Full team effort,” said Johnson, who is up to 990 receiving yards this season, which ranks third in the CFL. “Everybody came out and did what we needed Coming off consecutive losses to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and B.C. Lions in the last two weeks, Saturday’s game didn’t start out great for the Roughriders as Toronto opened the scoring on the first drive of the game with Kelly putting together a five-play, 66-yard touchdown drive on the opening series, capped off with a six-yard pass to Tyler Kahmann to make it 7-0 with the convert just three minutes in.
After a 43-yard return on the ensuing kickoff by Roughriders returner James Letcher Jr., Harris overthrew new receiver Shemar Bridges before narrowly missing Johnson as Saskatchewan was forced to punt it away.
However, Saskatchewan’s offence returned to the field shortly after as Burgess, making his first career start, notched his first interception as he picked off Kelly and returned it 27 yards to Toronto’s 37-yard line.
After two rushing plays accumulated seven yards, Saskatchewan elected to gamble on third-and-three, but Harris’s pass to Johnson fell incomplete as the Roughriders turned it over on downs.
Following a punt by the Argos, Harris completed a 34-yard pass to Duncan-Busby before hitting Daniel Wiebe on a 16-yard slant moment later.
Two plays after that, Harris went back to Duncan-Busby, who scored Saskatchewan’s lone touchdown last week against B.C., as he hit the third-year receiver on an 11-yard touchdown pass in the back of the end zone to tie the game 7-7.
In the second quarter, the Argos took the lead as Kelly hit Damonte Coxie on a 58-yard pass before hitting fullback Jack Cassar, who had one reception in 79 career games coming into the week, on a three-yard touchdown toss. With the ensuing convert hitting the upright, Toronto went up 13-7.
Toronto’s Brady Lidster added a 51-yard field goal later in the second quarter before Saskatchewan’s Alex Hale narrowly missed a 50-yard field goal attempt wide left on the following series as the Argonauts took a 16-7 lead.
Kelly then increased Toronto’s lead with an efficient six-play, 95-yard scoring drive, capped off by Kahmann making an exceptional six-yard touchdown catch for his second major of the night. The ensuing convert was blocked and returned to the end zone for two points by Saskatchewan’s Marcus Sayles as Toronto took a 22-9 lead.
Before the half was up, Hale split the uprights on a 55-yard field goal to cut the Toronto’s lead to 22-12 at the break.
In the second half, Hale made it 22-15 with a 36-yard field goal while Lidster missed a 36-yard kick moments later for the Argos.
On the next drive, Harris hit Duncan-Busby on a 30-yard gain before Saskatchewan got down inside Toronto’s 10-yard line. After a pair of runs by Stevens got Saskatchewan to the three-yard line, Harris’s pass attempt on third down fell incomplete as the Roughriders came away with no points.
Later in the third quarter, Kelly was intercepted for the second time on the night as Lokombo was the beneficiary of an overthrow, before returning it 20 yards to Toronto’s 29-yard line.
After Harris found D’Sean Mimbs for a first down, the quarterback connected with Johnson on a six-yard touchdown pass on the next throw. Hale missed the ensuing convert as the Roughriders trailed 22-21 with 13:02 left in the fourth quarter.
Minutes later, with the Roughriders backed up on their two-yard line following a punt by Toronto, Harris fumbled in the end zone before jumping on the loose ball, as Saskatchewan gave up a safety to make it 24-21.
After another Argonauts punt, Harris connected with Johnson for a 37-yard gain before going back to his top receiver for a 38-yard gain on the next play.
Saskatchewan got down to the Toronto four-yard line before lining up for a field goal to the the game. However, the Argos went offside on the play, giving Saskatchewan a fresh set of downs from the two-yard line, which turned out to be a massive play in the game.
“It was a hard count,” said Mace. “We tried to execute some of these things throughout the season and previous years, and sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.
“In that situation, you lose a couple yards, and you’re still close enough to at that point to tie the game.
“It worked out for us perfectly to for us to be able to move the sticks and then get the ball to the one with Tommy coming in.”
On the first play following the penalty, Stevens plunged into the end zone for the touchdown to put Saskatchewan up 28-24 with 2:57 left following the successful convert.
to do.” After Saskatchewan’s defence forced a two-and-out, the Roughriders registered a first down as Harris connected with Johnson before rookie running back Quali Conley — who ended the night with a season-high 78 yards — rumbled for a 21-yard gain before Saskatchewan punted the ball away with 25 seconds left.
Down by four with 19 seconds left, Kelly hit Kahmann for a first down before a deep throw to Jake Herslow fell incomplete. With five seconds left, Kelly connected on a hail mary attempt to Kahmann but he was tackled well short of the end zone as the Roughriders secured the win.
“We’re missing some big guns on offence with some very important players, and so for us to get these wins in these moments is big,” said Harris, whose group is playing without injured starters A.J. Ouellette, Samuel Emilus, Kian Schaffer-Baker, Rolan Milligan Jr. and Tevaughn Campbell. “But I think as a team, it’s one of those things where we look at each other and just no panic, no matter what the situation is.
“We’ll always be ready to step on the pedal and win a game, no matter what the circumstance is. Because it didn’t feel great in the first half; it kind of just felt weird. And then we got the PAT block and returned it. And then we had a small amount of time. We were able to get two chunks and down and make a big, big long field goal. And I think that generated a little bit of belief. And then I think we really got rolling the second half.”
Next up for Saskatchewan is the Labour Day Classic on Sept. 6 (Mosaic Stadium, 5 p.m.) against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers (6-5), who are coming off a 44-28 win over the Montreal Alouettes on Friday.
“It’s great for the team to find ways to win,” said veteran offensive tackle Jermarcus Hardrick. “The younger guys seeing that the game is never over in this league. There’s going to be some games harder than others so it’s good that they show that resilience to fight through.”
