Rod Pedersen
The Saskatchewan Roughriders (8-3) played host to the BC Lions (7-4) Sunday afternoon at Mosaic Stadium in a massive West Division collision. A win meant the Riders would share first-place in the CFL West while a loss meant the club would be alone in third. Here’s the game log in the broadcast booth:
-It was 19 degrees Celsius and sunny at the 2:30 pm kickoff with a west wind at 11 km/h.
-The Riders wore their home green uniforms with white pants and green helmets. The Lions were in their road whites with orange pants and white helmets.
-The scratches from the Riders’ 46-man roster were: KR Jock Sanders, DL Tearrius George, LS Cory Huclack, OT Ben Heenan.
-The BC Lions won the toss and deferred to the second half. The Riders took the ball to open the game and defended the south endzone in the opening quarter.
-Saskatchewan’s first drive began at its 45 after an illegal out-of-bounds kickoff by veteran Lions kicker Paul McCallum. On second down Riders QB Darian Durant fumbled and BC’s Keron Williams recovered at the Saskatchewan 46.
-QB Thomas DeMarco and the Lions took over. For DeMarco it was his first pro start in place of the injured Travis Lulay. They got to the Rider five-yard line before having to settle for a 12-yard Paul McCallum field goal. 3-0 BC at the 4: 33 mark.
-Saskatchewan took it at its 35-yard line for series #2. On the first play slotback Weston Dressler caught a 15-yard pass extending his consecutive games with a reception streak to 55 games. That was their only first down before a Ricky Schmitt punt.
-BC took over at their 25 for series #2. They were 2-and-out.
-Riders’ series #3 commenced at their 43. They got to the BC 45 before punting.
-Lions’ third series began at their 9. They were 2-and-out.
-Saskatchewan’s Tristan Jackson returned the Paul McCallum punt to the BC 51 for the Riders’ fourth series. A 2-and-out followed forcing another Ricky Schmitt punt.
-Lions took over at their 31 but they had another 2-and-out.
-Saskatchewan’s fifth possession began at the 55.
AFTER ONE: LIONS 3 RIDERS 0
-The first play of the second quarter was a Rider punt with Saskatchewan defending the north endzone. The Ricky Schmitt boot went 66-yards for a punt single. 3-1 BC.
-The temperature was up to 21 degrees and the wind was up to 14 km/h from the north.
-BC’s first series of the second quarter (5th of the game) began at their 35. On 2nd down Rider LB Carlos Thomas sacked DeMarco for their first sack of the game. 2-and-out.
-Riders took over for their 6th series of the half at their own 47. They got the BC 52 before punting. The Lions were blitz-heavy so far in the first half.
-Rider defense continued to hold the Lions in check and Saskatchewan got the ball back at their 45 with 10:05 to go. On the prior punt situation BC defender Stu Foord left the field on a cart with a knee injury. He’s a Reginan who spent four seasons with Saskatchewan.
-On the ensuing series the Riders managed one first down before punting. The crowd got on the offense at this point. The Ricky Schmitt punt went 69-yards for a single. 3-2 BC with 7:36 left.
-Buck Pierce took over at QB for the Lions as they took it at their 35. The offense immediately took off. Back-to-back first downs and then a roughing-the-passer penalty on LB Brian Peters moved them to the Rider 30. They kept going. But a Ricky Foley sack on Pierce forced a 32-yard McCallum field goal. 6-2 BC with 3:02 to go in the half. It was a 10-play drive eating up 4:32.
-Riders took over at their 35. They moved it impressively downfield, including a 15-yard pass to Geroy Simon, his first catch of the game. They got to the BC 28 before a Chris Milo 35-yard field goal attempt. It was not good, hitting the upright. Still 6-2 BC.
-A BC 2-and-out, including a Craig Butler sack of Pierce, allowed the Riders to get the ball back at the Lions’ 51 with 0:30 to go in the half.
-The Riders took the lead on a 37-yard touchdown pass from Durant to tailback Chris Garrett with 0:02 to go in the half.
AT THE BREAK: RIDERS 9 LIONS 6
-The Lions got the ball to begin the second half, starting at their 28-yard line and defending the south endzone. Thomas DeMarco was back in at QB. They were 2-and-out.
-Riders’ first drive began at their 53-yard line. They had to settle for a 15-yard Chris Milo field goal to cap the drive. 12-6 Riders with 8:37 to go in the 3rd quarter.
-Lions’ 2nd series began at their 14. They capped the drive on a 43-yard touchdown toss from DeMarco to Nick Moore giving BC a 13-12 lead with 5:44 to go in the third period.
-The attendance: 39,373.
-At this point Darian Durant’s 191 yards passing moved him past Peter Liske and Khari Jones into #28 all-time in CFL passing yards.
-Riders’ second series began at their 37. On 2nd down Durant fumbled for a second time and the Lions recovered at the Rider 38. Another roughing-the-passer penalty on the Riders, this time Graig Newman. Next play, on 1st-and-10 from the 20, DeMarco tossed a touchdown strike to Shawn Gore and the Lions went up 20-12 with 3:37 to go in the third.
-Paul McCallum nailed a 94-yard kickoff single on the next play to up the BC lead to 21-12.
-On the last play of the third quarter Rider returner Tristan Jackson brought a McCallum punt 32 yards to the BC 38.
AFTER THREE: LIONS 21 RIDERS 12
-After two plays Chris Milo lined up a 37-yard field goal but again it hit the upright for a dead ball. Still 21-12 Lions with 13:31 to go.
-After a BC 2-and-out the Riders got the ball back at their 48 with 12:24 to go. OT Patrick Neufeld was not on the field this series so Devin Tyler moved to RT and rookie Cory Watman played RG. On the first play Geroy Simon caught his 1017th career pass tying him with Ben Cahoon for #1 all-time. The drive ended in a 42-yard Chris Milo field goal attempt. It was good but the Riders got called for illegal formation so Milo had to attempt a 47-yarder due to the five yard penalty. It was GOOD, cutting BC’s lead to 21-15 with 9:56 left.
-Saskatchewan got it back at their 14 with 8:03 to go. They only managed to get to their 30 before punting.
-BC took over at their 43. It was another 2-and-out which included Ricky Foley’s second sack of the game.
-Riders got it at their 37 with 4:05 left, down six points. 2-and-out.
-With 2:50 left on the clock BC got it at their 35. They got one first down before punting.
-Riders got it with 1:37 left, starting at their 30. A roughing the passer penalty on DE Chris Wilson helped the Riders to the BC 40 with 0:52 to go. Next play, Durant-to-Taj Smith down the sidelines to the BC 8. Next play – Durant-to-Weston Dressler in the back right corner of the endzone with 0:38 to go. 22-12 Riders!
-With 0:31 to go BC’s Marco Ianuzzi returned the kickoff to the BC 44. Receptions by Shawn Gore and Courtney Taylor got them first downs to the Saskatchewan 35 with 0:11 to go.
-With 0:00 on the clock BC kicker Paul McCallum lined up a 42-yard field goal to win the game.
GAME OVER: LIONS 24 RIDERS 22
POSTGAME COMMENTS FROM RIDER COACH COREY CHAMBLIN:
-I told the guys there’s enough doubters outside the room. Don’t start doubting yourselves. That’s football. We’ll rebound and comeback. We gotta line up on every single play. As coaches and players we have to get back to the basics. We can’t doubt ourselves. Right now is just not our time. When freakish things happen you just have to keep plugging and move on.
-Tough game. We gotta go back in all three phases and re-evaluate what we’re doing. That’s the tough part about football. We’re not winning games. We gotta back to playing good football.
-It’s gonna be tough. We have to be able to handle all situations. We have to make field goals, make first downs and stop the other team from getting first downs. I think we’re close to breaking through it. We have to look in the mirror individually and make sure we don’t break down.
-Weldon Brown ended up having a knee infection and it swelled up out of nowhere. Diamond Ferri had something going on with his pancreas. That held those two guys out.
-I don’t know how you do practice or do it. When two field goals off the upright, you just have to weather the storm. But still we had a chance to close it out. Games shouldn’t go down to the last 38 seconds. We have to learn to close it out.
-We’re still positive when we come to work and work out tails off. Guys are still pushing through and they’re close.
-It’s still the same team. We’ve had injuries and all that. But that’s football. We had the crew we wanted the first seven games but now it’s plug and play. The guys that get plugged in just have to step up.
-I know we have a good football team. We just have to keep moving forward and break through it.
-Chris Garrett came in for Kory Sheets and did some good things. Sheets is a special back. As far as coming one-dimensional, we handed the ball off and he did some good things.
-I don’t know if Kory Sheets will be back next week. If not next week, hopefully the week after that.
•The Riders visit the Montreal Alouettes next Sunday on TSN and the CKRM Rider Radio Network.
