Mitchell Blair
The Saskatchewan Roughriders didn’t have Darian Durant pulling the trigger against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in the back half of their home-and-home and it didn’t matter. With backup quarterback Drew Willy calling the shots because of Durant’s injured foot, the Riders went out and did what they did all year and that is dominate their opposition as they walked out of Guelph with a 32-20 win.
Willy seemingly took a quarter to get comfortable, but once he did, he was in control of the game throwing for 269 yards and three touchdowns. He admits he needed a quarter to get some confidence under his belt.
“As a quarterback sometimes you just get in a zone and that’s what happened in that second quarter,” Willy admitted.”I was getting good protection, the receivers were running good routes and then the defence took over. It’s also nice handing the ball off to Kory as well because he just keeps running hard.”
While it was known by just about everyone that Darian Durant would start despite an injured foot last week, Willy says he wasn’t really sure what his role was going to be until he put the pads on and went out to the field for the pre-game warmup.
“I had no clue I was going to start until about an hour and a half before the game,” Willy said. “Darian tried it out before the game, but he said it felt iffy so he said it’s up to me. I just went out there and did what I could and it was a lot of fun to be a part of. “
Head Coach Corey Chamblin says the decision was something that truly did go down to the end, but in the end, he said he wanted to give Willy the opportunity and he made the most of it.
“I told (assistant GM Jeremy O’Day) Jeremy what was going on and that I was excited to see what Drew could do, “Chamblin told 620 CKRM’s Carm Carteri moments after the final gun. “I was glad to see him do what he did. At the end of the day, we have 42 guys that are doing their job and as long as they keep doing their job well, I am confident that we will win.
The defense once again played a little rope-a-dope with the opposition for about a quarter and a half before tightening up the clamps on Henry Burris and company. Once again, middle linebacker Rey Williams led the way with four tackles and a quarterback sack. He says it was a very satisfying night, especially when they came up with a goal-line stand in the 4th quarter when the game was still in doubt.
“That was a gut-check and was a big play, “Williams stated. “That is a play that can really motivate us. It shows that we can bend, but not break and that we don’t quit. If you are going to score on us, you have to earn every yard because we aren’t going to give it you.
The win leaves the Riders undefeated at 5-0 and that is something that leaves Chamblin with a great big grin.
“5 and 0 is good and I’m very proud of the guys, “Chamblin said. “We’ve played some hard-fought games and now they have some time off to enjoy what they’ve done, but they know they’ve got a lot of work to do yet and they will be ready to do that when they come back from seeing their families or whatever.”
The team does get some R and R now as they won’t play again until Friday, August 9 when they will take on the Stampeders in Calgary.
GAME NOTES:
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Tearrius George had a monster night for the Riders registering three sacks
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The Riders last started the season 5-0 in 2008
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Geroy Simon recorded his 63rd career 100 yard game with a 5 catch/125 yard/1 TD night
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The 32 points scored was a season low for the football team
