Taylor Shire
Regina Leader-Post
A dominant performance by the Saskatchewan Roughriders on Saturday night ensured there will be playoff football at Mosaic Stadium.
With a 39-8 win over the B.C. Lions in front of 28,683 fans on Saturday night in Regina in Week 19 of the CFL season, the Roughriders secured at least a second-place finish in the West Division as the Green and White improved to 9-7-1 while B.C. dropped to 8-9.
“Whether you win by that many or you win by two, it’s the same amount of points in the win column,” said Riders’ quarterback Trevor Harris, who completed 25 of 30 passes for 271 yards and two touchdowns. “It’s just about us making sure we continue to get better.
“We haven’t accomplished what we want to yet. We’re on our way there but we’ve just got to continue to make sure we keep climbing this mountain.”
With one game remaining, the Riders — winners of four straight games — are now just one point behind the Winnipeg Blue Bombers (10-7) for the top spot in the division. With Winnipeg and Saskatchewan on a bye next week, first place will be decided in the final week of the season as the Riders take on the Calgary Stampeders on Oct. 26 while the Bombers take on the Montreal Alouettes earlier that day.
If Winnipeg wins, the Bombers will host the West Final on Nov. 9 while Saskatchewan will take on the Lions in the semifinal on Nov. 2 regardless of how the Riders do against the Stamps. However, if the Bombers lose and the Riders win, the West Final will be at Mosaic Stadium while the Bombers will host the Lions one week earlier.
“I’m going to have to shoot (Alouettes quarterback Cody) Fajardo a message,” joked Harris. “(But) no, it’s not really anything under out control.”
Saturday’s game was a full team effort from the Riders as Harris and the offence didn’t turn the ball over the entire game, while Saskatchewan also punted just once through the first three quarters.
Defensively, the Green and White forced six turnovers and were in complete control the entire game.
“We know we can battle to the end; we can come back and win if we’re down by a bunch,” said running back A.J. Ouellette, who had 84 rushing yards in his return from injury. “But now the team knows we can start hot and not take the foot off the throat.
“It’s a good feeling.”
Saturday night’s game started with quite a bounce that went in Saskatchewan’s favour.
On the Lions opening drive of the game, B.C.’s William Stanback bobbled a pass that deflected off his foot, off a pair of Rider defenders and into the hands of linebacker A.J. Allen, who returned it 48 yards for the touchdown to open the scoring.
“A.J. ended up making a heck of a play,” said Riders’ head coach Corey Mace. “You’ve got to be around the football for good things to happen.
“We’ve been talking about that since the first day so to see it come to fruition kind of validates it.”
“That was just a ‘run-to-the-football’ moment,” verified Allen. “I saw it keep bouncing up, keep bouncing up.
“All of a sudden everybody kept dropping it and I got lucky. I was at the right spot at the right time.”
After the Lions punted the ball into Saskatchewan’s end zone for the rouge, Harris generated a pair of first downs before Brett Lauther kicked a 45-yard field goal to put Saskatchewan up 10-1 just 6:32 in.
On Saskatchewan’s next series, Lauther nailed a 53-yard field goal before the Lions responded with a 11-play, 70-yard drive capped off by fullback David Mackie plunging into the end zone from two yards out to make it 13-8.
After a pair of first-down passes to Samuel Emilus — which put the receiver over the 1,000-yard mark on the season for a second straight year — Harris connected with KeeSean Johnson and Jerreth Sterns for two more first downs to get to B.C.’s four-yard line.
However, after back-to-back incompletions the Riders settled for a field goal as Lauther made his third of the night to put Saskatchewan up 16-8.
As the Lions looked to respond, B.C. got down to Saskatchewan’s 19-yard line before turned it over on downs after a failed third-down gamble.
After the Riders punted the ball away, Saskatchewan’s offence got the ball right back as safety Nelson Lokombo hit Lions receiver Justin McInnis, who fumbled the ball which was scooped up by linebacker C.J. Reavis.
Harris then found Emilus for a 37-yard gain before connecting with Sterns for a six-yard touchdown pass to put the Riders up 23-8 with 21 seconds to go in the first half.
Instead of letting the clock run out, the Lions decided to try and make something happen with 16 seconds left in the half, however B.C. quarterback Nathan Rourke was picked off by Riders’ linebacker C.J. Avery, who returned it 40 yards to the B.C. 10-yard line.
With three seconds left in the half, Lauther kicked an 18-yard field goal to put Saskatchewan up 26-8 at the break.
After a failed onside kick attempt to begin the second half by B.C., the Riders started with the ball on the Lions side of the field.
Following a 23-yard run by Ouellette, Lauther kicked his fifth field goal of the night to make it 29-8.
After a punt by the Lions, the Riders put together another scoring drive, capped off by Harris finding Kian Schaffer-Baker for an eight-yard touchdown pass to put Saskatchewan up 36-8.
As B.C. looked to get back into the game, the Lions turned the ball over on downs after another failed third-down gamble on Saskatchewan’s 17-yard line.
The Riders turned that into another three points as Lauther connected on his sixth field goal of the game from 43 yards out to make it 39-8 early in the fourth quarter, which were the final points of the night.
“This is what it’s supposed to look like,” Allen said of the team’s performance. “When all three facets of the team are playing complementary football, this is what it’s supposed to look like.”
tshire@postmedia.com