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The Saskatchewan Roughriders handled business at home and have jumped ahead into second place in the CFL West Division.
Saskatchewan defeated the Ottawa Redblacks 29-16 at Mosaic Stadium on Saturday on the strength of seven Brett Lauther field goals. The Riders win paired with the B.C. Lions’ loss to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats means Saskatchewan has jumped into second place in the division.
“They are all character wins in this league. The parity is so equal in this league. Everyone has great talent and there’s not a single team you will come across and be like, ‘These guys stink,’” said quarterback Trevor Harris. “We knew we had to bring it today because (Ottawa) play hard each and every game.”
The Riders have now won back-to-back games after losing seven in a row prior.
But Harris said they aren’t satisfied with where they are at now.
“The goals we have are far more than that. I think the last thing you will with this team is a sense that we are OK … There’s going to be none of that. We’re going to push the envelope harder,” Harris said.
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Head coach Corey Mace said the wins validate the work people put in.
“Those guys worked hard even through the streak when it wasn’t good,” Mace said. “That’s hard as coaches for us too look those guys in the face and say you’re doing a lot of things right but we still have to fix the nuances.”
Mace said the team had to find a way to win this game with how tough touchdowns were to come by in the contest.
“This win looked a little different than maybe some others just like we had a bunch of ways we lost a game,” Mace said. “There will be a lot of truth out there for us — good and bad. We have to keep getting better on the goods and fix the bads.”
Riders running back Ryquell Armstead had to leave the game in the second half. He finished the day with 32 yards. Canadian Thomas Bertrand-Hudon came in for relief and scored a touchdown to go along with 72 rushing yards.
Quarterback Trevor Harris had another efficient day throwing the ball, passing for 315 yards. While KeeSean Johnson led the way with 101 receiving yards, right behind him was rookie pass-catcher Dhel Duncan-Busby. In his first career CFL start, he hauled in all seven of the passes thrown his way for 92 yards.
“It was a lot of fun. After that first catch and the fumble, I got that out of me and after that, it was smooth sailing I felt like,” Duncan-Busby said. “I’m just glad we could get the win and that’s the most important thing.”
Redblacks quarterback Jeremiah Masoli was starting the game due to an injury to Dru Brown. Masoli had 278 yards, a touchdown and three interceptions thrown in the game — Marcus Sayles, Rolan Milligan Jr., and Adam Auclair securing the turnovers. Milligan Jr.’s pick was his seventh of the season — the most in the CFL this season.
Saskatchewan Roughriders defensive back Marcus Sayles comes down with one of three interceptions by the Riders in the game. (Saskatchewan Roughriders/submitted)
“It feels good knowing I’m making plays and helping my team get into positions to win games,” said Milligan Jr.
The Riders didn’t kick a point after attempt in the game, with Johnson hauling in the two-point convert attempt.
Ottawa kicker Lewis Ward was three-for-four on his field goal attempts and made his only convert try.
With just six seconds left in the game, Riders defensive back Deontai Williams picked up Redblacks receiver Kalil Pimpleton and appeared to small him on his head. That lead to a number of Redblacks players coming over for a scrum around the Riders’ bench. Ultimately Williams and Redblacks receiver Dominque Rhymes were ejected after the play.
“I understand the Ottawa players reaction to the play, I get that,” Mace said. “Talking to (Ottawa head coach Bob Dyce) at the end of the game, I don’t want a game to end like that. We want to be an organization that can win with some class. That’s something we will talk about.”
With the Riders now stringing together a couple of wins, Harris said belief is a powerful thing once a team gets it.
“You hear coaches and people who have played talk about that — belief is a powerful drug and momentum is a powerful thing,” Harris said. “If we have belief and momentum, during games when they are tight it becomes, ‘We’re going to win, we just don’t know how,’ versus, ‘Hopefully we win.’” The work is far from over.”
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