Robservations: Johnson and Johnson hope for win-win situation versus Calgary on Saturday

Reflexive refrain from a football player or coach as a game approaches: “We want to go 1-and-0 this week.” 

Amend that to “2-and-0 this week” — at least in the case of Saskatchewan Roughriders guard Evan Johnson and his wife, Dallis. 

The Johnsons are hoping that the Roughriders and Saskatoon Valkyries both emerge victorious against Calgary on Saturday. 

For starters, the Valkyries are to play host to the Calgary Rage in the Western Women’s Canadian Football League’s championship game (2 p.m., Griffiths Stadium). 

At 5 p.m., the Roughriders and Calgary Stampeders are to collide in Canadian Football League action at McMahon Stadium. 

“We pay attention to the Valkyries and how they’re doing throughout the year,” Evan Johnson says. “We continue to support them and give back whenever we can. 

“We’re looking forward to a good game for them and we’re hoping to win our game, too, so it’s going to be a big football weekend.” 

Evan and Dallis Johnson both have close ties to the Valkyries. Dallis was a defensive back with the perennial WWCFL powerhouse in 2016, 2017 and 2019. Her sister, Delayne Aiken, was a teammate during the latter season. 

As well, Evan — a Regina-born graduate of the University of Saskatchewan Huskies football program — was an assistant coach with the Valkyries in 2017, 2018 and 2019. 

Dallis subsequently volunteered with the team’s board of directors, serving as the treasurer in 2020 and 2021. 

There’s more! Entering the 2022 and 2023 seasons, the Johnsons donated $300 to the Valkyries to help cover the player fees for one member of the team. 

“It’s important to us to give back and, obviously, the Valkyries mean a lot to us,” says Evan, who along with Dallis also donates to the Huskies. “My wife knows first-hand how expensive those fees can be and what a barrier they can be to playing the game that we both love.  

“So being able to help someone in a bit of a pinch be able to afford the fees and play the game, that’s how we like to give back to the program.” 

Support from the Saskatchewan Roughrider Foundation has also been beneficial.  

Saskatchewan’s two WWCFL teams — the Valkyries and Regina Riot — each receive $20,000 from the Foundation on an annual basis. The money is directed toward player scholarships. 

Additionally, the Foundation also supports annual dinners and prize requests. 

The depth of the relationship was underlined when 

three Roughriders players — quarterback Trevor Harris, receiver Jake Wieneke and centre Peter Godber — attended a Valkyries practice shortly before the CFL team’s 2023 training camp began in Saskatoon. 

“It was pretty cool to go up there and see them and just watch them,” Wieneke says. “We got to watch them practise a little bit and I got to watch the receivers and they were impressive. 

“The way they ran routes, they were polished. They were pros.” 

Dallis was projected to be a pro football player as far back as high school, even though she had yet to be associated with the sport as a participant. 

“When I went to high school, we didn’t have a football team — not even a six-man team,” says a proud graduate of Canwood Community School. 

Her classmates nonetheless saw considerable potential in the self-described “tomboy” and, as part of a graduating prophecy, tabbed her as the eventual first female player in Roughriders history. 

From Canwood, she moved to Saskatoon and attended the U of S, where she met Evan and was eventually introduced first-hand to football. 

“It was through him that I realized that I had the potential to play football,” says Dallis, who exchanged wedding vows with Evan on Jan. 26, 2019. 

At the time, Evan was preparing for his third season with the Ottawa REDBLACKS. He signed with Saskatchewan as a free agent in 2021 and is now preparing for his 35th regular-season game in green and white. 

The Valkyries, meanwhile, are hoping to win their eighth WWCFL title. 

The ideal scenario: Roughriders and Valkyries victories on Saturday. 

“That would be huge,” Dallis says. “I’d be quite excited about that.” 

TREVOR’S TOTALS 

Harris reached rarefied territory on June 16. 

During the Roughriders’ home opener, he posted the team’s fourth 400-plus-yards passing performance in the past decade. 

Darian Durant twice exceeded 400 yards in 2012. Since then, the 400 club has been joined by Harris, Kevin Glenn (once) and Cody Fajardo (twice). 

Glenn threw for 477 yards on July 5, 2015 in a 42-40 double-overtime loss to the visiting Toronto Argonauts. The victorious quarterback: Harris, who went 30-for-38 for 267 yards and four TDs. 

After Glenn went off for 477 yards, a Roughrider did not hit 400-plus yards again until Fajardo’s 430-yarder in a 32-7 home-field victory over Toronto. 

Fajardo tacked on a 429-yarder on Oct. 26, 2019 in a 27-24 victory over the host Edmonton Elks. 

Most recently, Harris posted the Roughriders’ 15th 400-yard passing game of the 2000s. He threw for 413 yards in a 45-27 loss to the visiting Winnipeg Blue Bombers. 

Darian Durant had seven such games, including a 500-yard game in a 43-37 overtime victory over the visiting Stampeders on Sept. 17, 2010. 

Henry Burris boasted three 400-yard games, beginning with a 458-yard eruption in a 40-34 loss to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats at Ivor Wynne Stadium on July 21, 2000. He became the first Roughrider to reach 400 yards since Kent Austin amassed 507 during a 30-23 victory in Toronto on Oct. 31, 1993. 

The Argonauts were also the foe when Kerry Joseph threw for 405 yards on July 22, 2006, albeit in a losing cause. Toronto won 25-23 at historic Mosaic Stadium. The victorious offensive co-ordinator: Kent Austin. 

BACK TO THE WWCFL … 

One day before Glenn and Harris put on the aforementioned quarterbacking clinic in 2015, the Riot won its first WWCFL title. 

Regina secured the championship by defeating the Edmonton Storm 53-6 in Winnipeg. 

Saskatoon and Regina are the only teams to have captured WWCFL titles since the league’s inception in 2011.  

The Valkyries have won it all in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2019 and 2022. Regina prevailed in 2015, 2017 and 2018. 

The 2020 and 2021 seasons were cancelled due to COVID-19. 

In the 2015 league final, Aimee Kowalski threw three touchdown passes — one of which was caught by Claire Dore, who was a guest coach at the Roughriders’ training camp this past spring. 

ROLL CREDITS … 

•  Nice people who deserve a plug: Shirley Prokop, Heather Dufault, Kandra Stacey, Andrew McDonald, Jessica Gelowsky, Ron Robison, Kelly McCrimmon, John Phillips, A.J. Allen, Colin Kelly, Evan Johnson, Dallis Johnson, Maverick Johnson, Delayne Aiken, Dale Richter, Bill Armstrong, Jill Stroeder, Joey Walters, Ray Elgaard, Jaxon Ford, Frank Kovacs, Craig Reynolds, Scott Coleman, Brenda Coleman, Nicholas Coleman, Dave Pettigrew, Blair Ross, Zack Evans, Zander Evans, Chase Pelletier, Dale Johnsrud and Elaine Johnsrud.