Mitchell Blair
It may be hard to wipe the smile off the face of Saskatchewan Roughriders Head Coach Corey Chamblin after he witnessed his team gut out a hard-fought 23-17 win over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers to finish off a two game in five days stretch with two wins—wins that put them right back in the Western Division race.
“I’ll tell ya what, that was a championship style win,” a relieved Chamblin said as fans filed out of Investors Group Field. “That was a tough win to get in a very tough environment against a very tough football team.”
Chamblin was almost lost for words when it came to the way his team came together to win two football teams on the road in a short span of time.
“Its huge! Huge!!” Chamblin insisted as he spoke with 620 CKRM’s Carm Carteri. “There are no words to describe how huge this win in. We had a short week, we flew from one coast to the other, we had one true practice, we had the odds stacked against us and we came into one of the league’s loudest places and took two points out of it. Its huge! The defence left it all out there and we got what we came for. “
The Riders defense was once again the story of the night as they made life miserable for Drew Willy and the Bombers offence. Willy threw three interceptions on the night with the most costly of them coming with just over two minutes to play in the 4th quarter when Terrell Maze stepped in front of a Willy pass and returned it 28 yards for what turned out to be the game-winning points. It capped off a night that saw the defense intercept three passes, recover two fumbles with one going back for a TD and registering five sacks with John Chick continuing his torrid pace of getting to the quarterback as he had three.
Chick now has 9 sacks on the season surpassing last season’s total of 8. He was ecstatic to come away with the win saying it felt like a playoff game.
“It feels good,” Chick said. “It took till the last minute to win this one, but its something we talked about all week. We knew we would have to fight hard for everything we got, but we came through in the end by making some big plays.”
Chick says to come through with two wins on the road in a short amount of time is something the entire squad should be definitely proud of.
“We’re not going to make excuses, but that was a tough part of the schedule for us.” Chick explained. “We had to keep that focus and that’s easier said than done. We knew what we had to do and we came out slow, but we found a way to dig down and finish the job. It’s a testament to what we can do.”
Darian Durant and the passing game did have a tough time combatting Gary Etcheverry’s complex defence, but in the end, the CFL’s top team running the football went back to being what’s successful with yet another running back coming through when it counted.
Jerome Messam entered the game in the second half and ran for 126 yards as he bulldozed his way through the Bomber defence. The CFL’s top Canadian in 2011 tipped his hat to the defence for getting the win, but he was also more than happy to finally have a big role.
“Coach Cortez called a great game and with that offensive line we have, it makes it easy for the backs to do what we do.” Messam said. “Its great to get an opportunity to get out there and its great having a coaching staff that’s behind me. It took me two years to get me back to where I think I was in 2011 and now I hope I can just keep coming through and do what is asked of me.
The win is Saskatchewan’s third straight and leaves them two points behind the Bombers as they are now 4-2. They will look to make it four wins in a row on Saturday, August 16 when the Montreal Alouettes pay a visit to Mosaic Stadium.
GAME NOTES:
- Jerome Messam is the 3rd Riders running back in 6 games to crack the 100 yard plateau on the ground as he joins Anthony Allen and Will Ford.
- The interception by Maze was his first of the year and his first CFL touchdown.
- Saskatchewan has won 12 of the last 14 meetings against the Bombers
