EDMONTON — A loss of two factored mightily in a gain of two points.
Of all the pivotal plays in the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ 17-13 victory of the Edmonton Elks on Sunday, the momentum-changing moment was Rolan Milligan Jr.’s do-not-proceed tackle of Kai Locksley with 4:11 left in Sunday’s regular-season opener at Commonwealth Stadium.
With the Elks trailing by four and in a seemingly advantageous first-and-goal situation, Locksley attempted to score from the one-yard line on three consecutive plays.
The Elks’ short-yardage quarterback barged straight ahead on the initial two plays, only to be repelled by Pete Robertson (first down), Jayden Dalke (second down) and associates.
Then came the third-down gamble, on which Locksley ran to his left and was stopped right in his tracks.
“On the previous two plays, they just ran the sneak up the middle,” Milligan Jr. said. “I was telling Nic (Marshall, cornerback), ‘They’re coming this way! They’re coming this way!’ They’ve got to switch it up at one point, you know.
“I was just making sure I was in the right position to make the play when it came to me.”
Even after Milligan Jr.’s monstrous play, the Roughriders were still backed up on their three-yard line and in the climactic stages of a one-possession game.
Consider, too, that four-plus minutes is an eternity in the CFL.
It must have seemed that way to the Elks, as the Roughriders’ offence exhausted all but the final, obligatory second with an old-school, smash-mouth drive that devoured 83 yards — 70 of which were gained along the ground.
Jamal Morrow ignited the drive with runs of 14, eight and four yards, twice moving the chains in the process while giving the offence some breathing room.
After Morrow was stopped for two yards on first-and-10, Trevor Harris threaded a precise pass to Samuel Emilus for 13 yards.
With a fresh set of downs, it was Morrow time once again. He sped to the right side for 28 yards and, as a bonus, ensured that he did not go out of bounds and stop the clock.
Only 1:24 remained when Harris threw to Emilus on a wide receiver screen for no gain.
Cue Frankie Hickson, who gained 10 tough yards to give Saskatchewan its fifth first down of the drive.
After Hickson finished the run by surging for first-down yardage, many of the 32,233 spectators began scurrying to the exits.
Hickson’s determined dash had all but secured a Saskatchewan victory — on the Elks’ much-hyped Guaranteed Win Night.
With 37 seconds left, the Roughriders ran the ball twice in succession before Harris rolled to his right, consumed a few more precious seconds, and fired the ball toward the end zone. It was an arcing incompletion, yes, but one that left the Elks with just one tick on the clock and 86 yards to go.
As a punctuation mark, Elks quarterback Taylor Cornelius was sacked for the fifth time — Charbel Dabire doing the honours to officially hand Edmonton its 18th successive home-field loss.
It was fitting that the defence made the final play, considering the magnitude of the goal-line stand that was punctuated by Milligan Jr. If not for that …
“We would have needed another drive to go win the game,” said Harris, an 11th-year CFLer.
“I fully believe that we would have put one together but, shoot, you don’t see three plays in a row from the one-yard line get stuffed like that. I think I’ve seen it maybe one other time since I came up here in 2012.
“For our defence to do that, they put us on their back and they really came through. When they ran a jet sweep and I saw Roles step in and just light that up, that was something else.
“That was one of those things where you just shake your head in disbelief and say, ‘We don’t deserve these guys.’ ”
On the whole, the defence limited Edmonton to 12 first downs and 243 yards of net offence.
More than half of the Elks’ 202 passing yards came on one play — a 102-yard touchdown from Taylor Cornelius to Eugene Lewis.
“The defence played a pretty good game,” Head Coach Craig Dickenson said. “We’ll have to watch the film and learn from it, but it was a good start.”
And, oh, what a finish!
Once again, we take you back to Milligan Jr., who also registered a fourth-quarter interception to put Saskatchewan on the home side’s 42-yard line with 12:30 left in the fourth quarter.
Milligan Jr.’s pick set up a 46-yard Brett Lauther field goal that ultimately concluded the scoring — only because Edmonton was squelched on back-to-back-to-back plays from the one-yard line.
One stop was made by Dalke, as referenced earlier, on the second of three consecutive futile runs by Locksley.
It was a sweet occasion all around for Dalke, who hails from nearby Leduc, Alta.
On the final play of the first half, Dalke snared a Hail Mary pass to register his first CFL interception. The play was appreciated most energetically by 130 friends and family members — including his father, Ryan, who celebrated his 50th birthday in fine style on Sunday.
As much as Dalke savoured his landmark interception, the goal-line stand took the cake.
“I would argue that’s better than a pick,” the Roughriders’ starting safety said. “That turnover (on downs) means more to our team.
“Think about if they had scored in the fourth quarter with that amount of time left. That puts a lot of pressure on the other side of the ball to have to go down and score instead of running the clock down — and then we take this W.
“So, yeah. I think that was a big turning point.”
And a big win to begin the season.
“It’s huge,” said left guard Evan Johnson, who is now preparing for Friday’s home opener against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers (7 p.m., Mosaic Stadium).
“Obviously, each game matters. You hate to drop any game, especially the first game of the year.
“We knew we were in for a good fight, but we came in here expecting to win and we’re happy that we were able to get it done.”
