Rod Pedersen
The Saskatchewan Roughriders (11-6) hosted the Edmonton Eskimos (3-14) Saturday afternoon in the final game of the 2013 CFL regular season. It was a tune-up for the Riders as they prepare to host BC in the Western Semifinal while the Eskimos were facing the end of their season. Here’s the game log from the broadcast booth:
– It was 9 degrees Celsius and sunny at the 3:10 pm kickoff with a south wind at 17 km/h.
– The Riders wore their home green jerseys with green helmets and white pants while the Eskimos were adorned in their road whites with green pants and helmets.
– The scratches from the Riders’ 46-man roster were: RB Kory Sheets, LB Diamond Ferri, LB Tristan Black and OL Xavier Fulton.
– The Eskimos won the coin toss and deferred. The Riders elected to defend the north endzone in the opening quarter so Edmonton took the ball.
– The Eskimos’ first series began at their 43 with Mike Reilly at quarterback. They went 2-and-out but Rider LB Craig Butler came out of the series with an upper body injury.
– The Riders’ first series began at their 13 with Drew Willy at QB. 2-and-out after two incomplete passes.
– Edmonton’s second series began at the Rider 49 after a Jamal Miles punt return. 2-and-out after two incomplete passes.
– Riders’ second possession began at their 1 after a 48-yard Grant Shaw punt. They managed two first downs on a Chris Garrett run and Taj Smith reception before punting from their 30.
– Edmonton’s third series commenced at the Riders 51. Reilly marched them to the Rider 18 before Grant Shaw booted a 25-yard field goal. That made it 3-0 Edmonton with 7:25 to go in the first period.
– Rider ball for a third time at their 35 following the three-pointer. On 2nd down Willy fired an interception to Edmonton LB Rennie Curran who returned it 56-yards for the score. 10-0 Eskimos at the 6:25 mark.
– Riders’ fourth series began at their 27 after the kickoff. Willy moved the ball all the way down to the Edmonton 16 before attempting a 23-yard Chris Milo field goal. He was good, on his 27th birthday, and the Riders trailed 10-3 with 1:10 to go in the first.
– Edmonton was 2-and-out on their fourth series which began at their 35.
– Riders’ fifth series began at their 7-yard line with 0:03 to go in the quarter.
AFTER ONE: ESKIMOS 10 RIDERS 3
– Saskatchewan got two first downs on the possession before punting.
– Edmonton got it for a fifth time at their 22 at the 2:21 mark of the second frame. Quarterback Mike Reilly did not have a completion in the first quarter but that changed in this series. Rider LB Craig Butler had returned to the game after his first quarter injury. They got to the Rider 52 before punting.
– Saskatchewan’s sixth possession began at their 15 as they defended the south endzone. First play was 26-yard Willy-to-Geroy Simon pass. Willy diced up the Edmonton Eskimo down to the Eskimo five. On 1st-and-goal Willy drilled a touchdown pass to Eron Riley to tie the game 10-10 with 4:05 to go in the half. It was an 8-play, 95-yard drive taking 4:15 off the clock.
– A 69-yard kickoff return by Jamal Miles set the Eskimos up at the Rider 35 for their sixth series. On the first play Rider LB Mike McCullough took down Reilly for his second sack of the season. They ended the series with a 40-yard Shaw field goal for a 13-10 Edmonton lead with 2:20 to go in the half.
– Riders’ seventh series began at their 35 however they were 2-and-out with Willy at the helm.
– Edmonton ball at their 17 with 1:59 left. 2-and-out under Reilly.
– Rider ball at their 54 with 1:00 to go. They ran out the clock.
AT THE BREAK: ESKIMOS 13 ROUGHRIDERS 10
– The Riders got the ball to open the second half, beginning at their 32 with rookie Tino Sunseri behind centre. Drew Willy was 15/22 for 157 yards, a TD and an INT. This was Sunseri’s first action since the preseason. They got down to the Edmonton 4-yard line but Sunseri threw an incomplete touchdown pass to Taj Smith on second down and they had to settle for an 11-yard Chris Milo field goal. 13-13 at the 7:00 mark. It was a 14-play drive taking 6:40 off the clock.
– Edmonton ball at their 35 with Reilly still in the game. He was 3/10 for 16 yards in the first half. They got to the Rider 18, on a lot of Reilly rushes, before Shaw connected on a 25-yard field goal for a 16-13 lead with 4:12 to go in the third frame.
– Riders took it at their 35. 2-and-out.
– Edmonton’s second series began at their 45. Rookie Johnathan Crompton was at quarterback. On second down he was picked off by Rider LB Craig Butler (his 4th of the season), who returned it to the Eskimo 28. Turnovers: 1-1
– A 20-yard Sunseri pass to Bagg set them up at the Edmonton-8, and then an 8-yard rush by Chris Garrett into the endzone gave the Riders a 20-16 lead with 1:38 to go in the third.
– Edmonton’s third series began at their 49. Reilly was in for first down, then Crompton came back in. They efficiently moved it down field and ended the series with a 12-yard TD reception by John White on the final play of the quarter.
AFTER THREE: ESKIMOS 23 ROUGHRIDERS 20
– After the Edmonton touchdown, the Riders’ next series began at their 40. Sunseri fired bullets downfield, to Alex Anthony and a few to Taj Smith, and they ended the series with 22-yard Chris Milo field goal tying the game at 23-23 with 10:25 to go.
– The attendance: 32,701.
– With 10:00 to go the Eskimos took over at their 29 with Kerry Joseph at QB. He got an ovation from the Rider Nation in what might have been his last action in the CFL. He quarterbacked Saskatchewan to a Grey Cup title in 2007. They got one first down before punting. Rider DT Tearrius George got the Riders’ second sack of the game. LB Mike McCullough got the first. Edmonton wound up punting.
– With 8:12 left and the game tied 23-23, the Riders got it at their 52. It was another very impressive series by Sunseri who got them all the way down to the Edmonton-2. On first down Garrett was swallowed up for a 2-yard loss. A pass interference call on 2nd-and-goal set them up 1st down on the one. Garrett was stopped on 1st down. On 2nd-and-goal from the one they ran the option but Sunseri kept the ball and was stopped at the one. The Riders had to settle for an 8-yard Milo field goal with 3:24 to go giving them a 26-23 lead.
– Edmonton took it at their 35 with Joseph still in the game. They got to the Rider 54 before punting.
– Rider ball at their 16 with 2:21 to go. Taj Smith was 11 yards away from a thousand entering the series. He caught one pass taking him to 2-yards away before they had to punt.
– The Eskimos took the lead on a 79-yard punt return touchdown by Jamal Miles with 1:06 to go. 30-26 Eskimos.
– Riders needed a TD drive out of Sunseri to win the game as they started at their 27 with 1:01 left. 10-yard pass to Simon. 11-yard pass to Garrett. 11-yard pass to Bagg. 5-yard pass to Alex Anthony to the Edmonton 45 with 0:22 left. 9-yard pass to Taj Smith to put him over 1000 with 0:13 to go. Odell Willis sacked Sunseri at the Edmonton 43 with 0:07 left. Timeout Riders. It came down to the last play; 2nd-and-17 at the Edmonton 43 to win the game. Check that. Eron Riley caught a pass to get out of bounds at the 25 with 0:01 left. On the last play Sunseri took a sack to the end the game.
GAME OVER: ESKIMOS 30 ROUGHRIDERS 26
POSTGAME NOTES/QUOTES FROM RIDER COACH COREY CHAMBLIN:
– It was one of those that we definitely could have won. It was tough to field a team in a game like that, but every time you step on the field you should expect to win.
– We had some starters missing on special teams but it’s pretty tough. We had already shifted guys. We just have to be better in the playoffs and we will be.
– Seeing those young quarterbacks gives you confidence in what you have behind Darian. Chris Garrett showed the old Chris Garrett there. It took him half a season to get the playbook down and get confidence. We had a real good push up front tonight.
– Chris Getzlaf is 50/50 for the playoffs with the knee injury. We’ll see how the week goes.
– I don’t care whether it’s preseason, scrimmage or whatever, it doesn’t matter. We have to play consistently. Those guys played like they had no tomorrow.
– We did some good things. Don’t get me wrong. It’s real hard to keep the guys hungry when you know what you have next week. I hate the word meaningless because it’s not, but it’s hard to go all-out.
– There were some things we were proud of, young guys. Tino, Alex Anthony, they looked poised and excited. Anthony looked like he fits out there. We knew what we had in Drew Willy because we’ve seen him.
– I don’t now if we have the flexibility to put Garrett on the roster in the playoffs. After this I’ll meet with the coaches what we have to put a lineup together for next week.
– It’s a brand new season. The only thing that matters to me is that when we step on the field, we expect to win it. There are one or two injuries, that’s a concern but if we had the best unit out there we would have won that game.
– BC’s Stefan Logan is something else. He’s very dynamic. They have Buck and Travis playing so defensively we have our jobs cut out for us. You have to prepare for the top two and if you get to the third one, it means the top two are down.
– We couldn’t sit everyone down but we pulled Weston Dressler out of there when the time came. I’m sure Darian could use the time off but he kept his mind into it. I heard some good things from him. We’ll rotate those guys’ time in practice and it’s good to get them some valuable time in the process. It was nice to see some guys get individual and team goals. We got double-digit wins so that’s a positive.
– Did Kerry Joseph get a TD? Good, we stopped him. Kerry’s played a long time. He and Geroy were probably playing pro ball when I was in high school. If he wants to move into coaching, that would be great for him. He’s done some great things in this game.
* The Riders host the BC Lions next Sunday in the 2013 CFL Western Semifinal. Kickoff is at 3:30 on TSN and the CKRM Rider Radio Network.
