Mitchell Blair
The Saskatchewan Roughriders will play the B.C Lions at Mosaic Stadium in the Western semi-final November 10.
That became fact Saturday night as the Calgary Stampeders clinched first place in the West as Jon Cornish’s late touchdown run were the points needed as they beat Saskatchewan 29-25.
It was a heated battle and one that seemed to be a tale of two halves as the defense did a tremendous job of corralling Kevin Glenn and the Calgary offence, but Drew Tate came in to start the 3rd quarter and it changed the flow of the game. Defensive lineman Tearrius George had a monstrous game for the green-and-white, but he admits it changed once Tate came in.
“We had them locked down in the first half,” George said. “Drew came in and they started running a lot of misdirection plays to slow us down and they made a couple of big plays on us. We just have to get back into the film room and correct those mistakes.”
While George thought the game changed in the second half when Tate came in, Head Coach Corey Chamblin had to bite his tongue and be careful about his comments towards the officiating as there were some calls that weren’t made and some that were in questionable fashion.
“The penalty on Maze towards the end was the big play as far as I’m concerned,” Chamblin told 620 CKRM’s Carm Carteri. “From where we were standing, we didn’t think it was a flag and then some of our guys started to beak so we got an additional one. Its tough, but like I told the guys we have to be careful. Are we pissed about it, yeah I am because there were some calls out there I didn’t agree with, but at the end of the day we have to be able to overcome those things. Its tough to see the game end the way it did, but its lessons learned. If we get a break here or there, we aren’t having this conversation, but we are. Our aim is to come back here, but we have some work ahead of us if we are to get back here.
The Riders had a chance to blow the game open in the first half as the defense forced a number of turnovers, but they could only capitalize on one of those chances settling for field goals instead of touchdowns. Quarterback Darian Durant could only shake his head and wonder what could have been.
“”We squandered it,” Durant said. “The defense gave us plenty of opportunities to put some points on the board. We’re not going to win kicking field goals. It’s always a dog fight when we play these guys and tonight was no different.”
With the victory, it makes the regular season finale at home against Edmonton meaningless as far as the standings go, but George advises that is something you may not want to say to his teammates as they look forward to Week 18.
“We have some angry guys in this room, “George said. “You try telling those 50 or 60 guys in there that next week means nothing. We have a lot of guys who are hurt and upset right now. I told them to sulk or do whatever, but get back to practice next week and get ready because its our intention to come back here and get the job done.”
GAME NOTES:
- The Riders continue to struggle in Calgary as they are now winless in 7 regular season games at MacMahon Stadium
- Tearrius George was a monster finishing the game with four tackles, one sack, one forced fumble and two fumble recoveries
- Chris Getzlaf caught three passes for 49 yards before leaving the game with an injury. The 49 yards were more than enough to give the Regina-born receiver his 2nd career 1000 yard season. Teammate Weston Dressler also surpassed the 1000 yd mark for the 5th time.
- Darian Durant’s rushing touchdown in the 2nd quarter was surprisingly his first of the season
