Rod Pedersen
The Saskatchewan Roughriders (10-5) hosted the BC Lions (9-6) early Saturday evening in a big CFL West Division showdown. The Riders had the opportunity to clinch at least second-place in the CFL West and a home playoff game with a victory. Going into the game, the season series was tied 1-1. Here is the game log from the broadcast booth:
– There were light rainshowers at the 5:10 pm kickoff with a temperature of 9 degrees Celsius and a northwest wind at 12 km/h.
– The Riders wore their home green uniforms with white pants and green helmets while the Lions were adorned in their road white jerseys with orange pants and white helmets.
– The scratches for the Riders from their 46-man roster were: LB Ejiro Kuale, LB Abraham Kromah, DB Prince Miller, DT Tearrius George.
– Rider Plaza of Honor inductee Eddie Davis welcomed Canada’s Team to the field on the SaskTel MaxTron for Bring ‘Em Out!
– The Lions called heads at the coin toss and they lost. The Riders elected to defer. BC got the ball to open the game.
– The Riders’ opening two series were forgettable. Tailback Kory Sheets fumbled after a 41-yard run at the BC 27 and the Lions took over but were 2-and-out. On their second series slotback Geroy Simon fumbled and the Lions recovered at the Riders 27.
– Three plays later they cashed in with an 11-yard Thomas DeMarco-to-Nick Moore touchdown pass at the 6:36 mark.
– Saskatchewan was 2-and-out on their third series.
– The Riders’ fourth series began at the BC 45 after a facemask on the Lions’ punt cover team. They got to the BC 23 before Chris Milo hit a 30-yard field goal to cut BC’s lead to 7-3 with 2:47 to go in the first quarter. Milo 35/40 on the year.
– The Riders took the lead on a 46-yard fumble return touchdown by LB Weldon Brown. DE John Chick had the pressure on DeMarco, who let it go.
– On BC’s next series, with 0:49 to go in the quarter, Rider MLB Mike McCullough forced a fumble by BC tailback Stefan Logan and the Riders’ Ricky Foley recovered at the Lions’ 54. Turnovers: 2-2 A deep gain by Geroy Simon and a roughing the passer penalty set the Riders up 1st-and-goal at the BC 8. The series carried over into the second quarter.
AFTER ONE: RIDERS 10 LIONS 7
– On the second play of the second quarter Milo hit a 14-yard field goal for a 13-7 Rider lead at the 1:10 mark.
– BC’s next series began at their 39 but on the second play DeMarco was picked off by Rider DB Carlos Thomas who returned it to the BC 20. Turnovers: 3-2 in the Riders’ favour. Two plays later Darian Durant threw a swing pass right to Weston Dressler who raced 20 yards to the endzone for a 20-7 lead.
– The Lions’ second series of the quarter began at their 43. On the first play Lions SB Courtney Taylor fumbled a DeMarco pass and the Riders recovered at the Rider 54. Turnovers: 4-2 in the Riders’ favour. A 47-yard gain by SB Weston Dressler set the Riders up at the BC 3 and then on 2-and-goal from the 1, Kory Sheets rushed in on his feet for his 12th TD of the year. 27-7 Riders, and 21 points off of BC giveaways. 7:51 remained in the first half.
– BC’s next series began at their 30. They managed one first down before a Paul McCallum punt.
– Saskatchewan got it at their 28 after a 3-yard Jock Sanders punt return. They got one first down before a Ricky Schmitt punt.
– BC ball at their 15 with 3:20 to go. On the first play SB Courtney Taylor tipped a DeMarco pass and Rider LB Craig Butler intercepted it for his third pick of the season. Riders got it at the BC 36. Turnovers: 5-2 in the Riders’ favour. This drive ended in a 43-yard Chris Milo missed field goal single point. 28-7 Riders with 2:29 to go in the half. Milo 2/3 on the night.
– With 1:42 to go in the half the Riders got it back at their 46. They faced 3rd-and-1 at the 55 with 1:13 to go and Durant stayed in and coverted the first. Next play 45 yards Durant-to-Dressler to the BC 8. The drive stalled and ended in a 15-yard Milo field goal for a 31-7 Rider lead at the 14:15 mark.
AT THE BREAK: RIDERS 31 LIONS 7
– Lions got the ball to open the second half, beginning at their 32. They were 2-and-out with DeMarco still in at QB.
– Riders’ first series of the half began at their 36 after a briefly-muffed Jock Sanders return. Durant was picked off by BC DB Lin-J Shell who returned it to the Sask 51. Turnovers: 5-3 in the Riders’ favour. They marched it all the way downfield and DeMarco fired a 7-yard TD pass to Shawn Gore to cut the Rider lead to 31-14 with 8:12 to go in the third. It was a 5-play, 51-yard series.
– The attendance: 34,956.
– Saskatchewan’s second series began at their 11 after a holding penalty on the punt return team by Diamond Ferri. They managed one first down on a Durant run, but wound up punting.
– With 5:30 to go in the third quarter, BC started its next series at their 44. Weldon Brown picked DeMarco and returned it for a score but a roughing the passer penalty by DT Zack Evans negated it. BC maintained possession. They got to the Rider 47 before punting.
– Rider ball at their 10 with 4:12 to go in the third. First play Sheets danced 22 yards to get them out of jeopardy giving him 118 yards on the day. Tied him with George Reed for the Rider record of nine 100-yard rushing games. They got to the BC 53 before punting
– BC ball at their 26 with 0:03 to go in the third period. The series carried over into the fourth period.
AFTER THREE: RIDERS 31 LIONS 14
– Riders forced a punt on the second play of the final frame.
– Saskatchewan punter Ricky Schmitt drilled a 68-yard punt at the end of their first series of the quarter giving the Riders a 32-14 lead with 12:22 to go. BC got it at their 35.
– The next BC series didn’t last long. Rider CB Tristan Jackson picked off DeMarco and returned it to the Lions’ 48 but a penalty on the Riders moved them back to their 47. Turnovers: 6-2 in the Riders’ favour. They got to the BC 45 before punting. Lions MLB Solomon Elimimian came out of the game with injury at this time.
– BC ball at their 32 with 9:20 to go, down 32-14. A roughing the passer penalty on LB Craig Butler gave them a 1st down at the Rider 52. The Lions’ woes continued as Dwight Anderson picked off a tipped DeMarco pass at the Rider 43. Turnovers: 7-2 in the Riders’ favour.
– On the next Rider series they got to the 55 before punting.
– BC ball at their 15 with 4:33 go to. First down DeMarco got sacked by John Chick for Big John’s sixth sack of the year, a 10-yard loss. They got to their 34 with 2:20 to go, facing 3rd-and-3 for their offense. An incomplete pass caused a turnover on downs. Turnovers: 8-2 in the Riders’ favour. See a trend?
– Riders got it at the BC 34 with 2:04 to go. Two Sheets runs brought up a 38-yard Chris Milo field goal attempt. He was good, making him 4/5 on the day, and it gave the Green Guys a 35-14 lead.
– Lions’ ball at their 35 with 1:30 to go. 2-and-out after a pair of incomplete passes with 1:19 left.
– Rider ball at their 44 with 1:09 left. Two Sheets runs, 2-and-out, and then a punt. BC ball at their 25 with 0:12 to go.
– The Lions ran a pair of plays until time ran out.
GAME OVER: RIDERS 35 LIONS 14
NOTES FROM RIDER HEAD COACH COREY CHAMBLIN
– I thought it was a good team effort. Even the guys on the sidelines, they got the crowd into it tonight.
– I told the guys early in the week this is their job and they’d better before fired up. They can’t just collect paycheques. They’ve got to be fired up and they were tonight.
– The guys did some good things. We even got some TDs called back. Hosting a playoff game is a positive. Being in my second year, rebuilding this team, I thank God and Brendan Taman for giving me the tools to build a team.
– Where there was a lot of energy in the stadium with “Muddle the Huddle”. Everyone in the stadium tonight wanted that home playoff game.
– As far as the weather, neither team had the advantage. We never practiced in rain this week. We gave it up early, but we attacked their turnovers.
– Sheets didn’t look like he did 148. There’s some things he can improve on and the o-line can too. But they did a good job in a hard-nosed football game.
– Mike McCullough lives one more week. He’ll keep it one more week. His biggest challenge is next week against Jon Cornish. If he does a good job there, he can keep that job for the rest of the year! I like Mike. He’s a calming influence on this team.
– They’re starting to play together and believe they can be a championship defense. I told the guys this upcoming game is a playoff game and I’m sure they’ll prepare that way. This team was put together to finish first and we’ll have to go through Calgary to do that. Our goal is to finish first through the whole league.
– We made an adjustment with Darian Durant in short yardage. I don’t if it’s because of him that it worked, but we’ll continue to make adjustments there.
– How would I grade the offense? How many points were on the board? They were efficient. They did a good job. We put the ball on the ground a couple times but we came back and we were efficient.
– There’s nothing he can do but just run the ball. It’s good to sell tickets and hype the game. There will be no guarantee but you never know what you’ll get before the week’s out!
– Darian doesn’t have a broken rib. No. I wouldn’t put him out there with a broken rib. (Referring to comments on the TSN broadcast)
** The Riders visit the Calgary Stampeders Saturday at 5:00 pm on TSN and the CKRM Rider Radio Network.
