Dan Plaster
It was a match-up of a pair of teams coming off drastically different games. The Toronto Argonauts had their way in week one with their 26-11 victory over the Eskimos, while the Saskatchewan Roughriders had a very well documented loss against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers that saw them lose more than just the game, but Darian Durant and four other players to the injured list.
After a dominating offensive performance against the Eskimos last week, the Argos continued their precision with a long opening drive that ended up in a 50 yard Ronnie Pfeffer field goal for the early 3-0 lead.
The Rider offence also continued their offensive prowess in their opening drive with a long 73 yard drive that stalled at the Argo two-yard line and was finished with a short nine yard Paul McCallum field goal to tie it a three’s.
The Rider defence could not get a stop as the Argos second drive of the game was another long one as it stretched into the second quarter and finished with a short two-yard pitch and catch from Trevor Harris to Kevin Elliot and the 10-3 lead.
After the Riders forced their first two-and-out of the season, it set up a short field and the drive stalled again inside the 20 and McCallum kicked his second field goal of the game to cut the lead to 10-6.
Jake Doughty with the first great defensive play of the game with a one-handed interception and that set up McCallum’s third field goal of the game and this one was a 50-yard bomb that went through the uprights and it was 10-9 Argos late in the 2nd quarter.
The Rider offence continued to click late in the half as a short drive was topped with a Kevin Glenn to Ryan Smith touchdown that covered 28 yards and after a two-point conversion, the Riders took a 17-10 lead to the halftime break.
The offensive show continued in the second half and it began with a Rider drive that had a touchdown removed because of a penalty. Paul McCallum came in again to clean things up with his fourth field goal of the game and the ten point spread.
After an exchange of singles making it 21-11 Riders heading into the fourth quarter and the momentum change when AJ Jefferson picked off a Kevin Glenn pass at his own 10 yard line and took it back all the way for the touchdown and the lead was cut to 21-18.
The Argos tied the game at the three-minute warning with a 39 yard Ronnie Pfeffer field goal and that’s when the real offensive explosion began.
The Riders were able to go 75 yards on seven plays finishing with a Brett Smith TD plunge to take the seven point lead, only to see the Argos march 85 yards down the field in just over a minute to tie the game and send it to overtime at 28 apiece.
The two teams exchanged touchdowns and missed two-pointers in the first round of overtime then they both scored again in the second overtime session and it came down to a missed two-point attempt by the Riders and the Argos were able to come away with the victory.
1st 2nd 3rd 4th OT Total
Toronto Argonauts 3 7 1 17 14 42
Saskatchewan Roughriders 3 14 4 7 12 40
Offensive leaders
Kevin Glenn 33-40 477yds 2TD’s 1INT 122.6QBR
Ryan Smith 8/174 1TD receiving
Weston Dressler 5/82 receiving
Jerome Messam 19/84 rushing
