Weighty decisions loom for the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ brass as Saturday night’s CFL cutdown deadline draws inexorably closer.
The last audition for jobs with the 2025 Roughriders took place on Friday night, when the Winnipeg Blue Bombers registered a 27-20 victory at Mosaic Stadium to sweep a home-and-home pre-season set.
Final cuts must be submitted to the league office by Saturday at 10 p.m.
“Now it’s just time to go upstairs, get some film done, and hopefully get a few hours of sleep,” Roughriders Head Coach Corey Mace said shortly before an extended Friday night turned into Saturday morning.
“We’re going to jump into narrowing the roster. There’s going to be some long meetings to make sure that we’re really thinking about who it is that we ultimately want to put together and make the opening-day roster.”
“I can’t wait, and I know the other guys can’t wait, either,” Mace said. “Just looking at our first opponent, in Ottawa, they’re a physical football team. I’d say they’re kind of similar to us. I’m expecting that they’ll retain a lot of their roster (from last season), so it’s going to be a physical Week 1.
“I just know the guys are amped up. They’re ready to get after it. When things start counting for real, this is a group that loves to compete and we’re looking forward to that.”
That sentiment was echoed by Saskatoon-born veteran Jorgen Hus.
“You get tired of hitting each other in camp,” the Roughriders’ 10th-year long snapper said. “You get through the pre-season and you just want to get the team going and get on with the real stuff.
“We’ve got an exciting group here. I know the pre-season games didn’t go our way, but I don’t think it’s indicative of what this group’s potential is.
“We’ve got a lot of talent in this room. We’ve got a lot of depth. I’ve excited to see how it unfolds.”
With only six days between games, the Roughriders on Friday rested seasoned starters such as quarterback Trevor Harris, running back A.J. Ouellette, offensive linemen Logan Ferland and Jermarcus Hardrick, receivers Samuel Emilus and Kian Schaffer-Baker, defensive end Malik Carney, linebackers Jameer Thurman and C.J. Reavis, and defensive backs Rolan Milligan Jr., Tevaughn Campbell and Marcus Sayles.
With Harris watching from the sideline, Roughriders quarterbacks Jake Maier and Jack Coan combined for 27 completions in 40 attempts for 302 yards. However, Saskatchewan did not score a touchdown until the final minute.
Maier was 9-for-15 for 113 yards, with one interception, in the first half.
“We got in the red zone a couple of times and had opportunities to score touchdowns,” he said. “We just didn’t do it.
“We probably had one or two too many two-and-outs than you’d like to see, but there were times when we felt, ‘Hey, we’re stringing some things along here.’
“That’s the CFL game. You feel like you’re going strong and, a hiccup here and there, all of sudden you’re off the field. That’s just part of the beast.”
Coan took over for the second half and went 18-for-25 for 189 yards.
“I’m definitely disappointed we couldn’t get the win, but it was good to finally get in the end zone on the last drive,” the second-year Roughriders pivot said. “For me, personally, it was exciting to get out there and feel the speed of the game again and get on Mosaic again.
“It was a lot of fun for me, but I’m just disappointed that we lost.”
The Bombers opened Friday’s game with a 10-play, 78-yard march that culminated in a 21-yard touchdown pass from Chris Streveler to Keric Wheatfall. Sergio Castillo added the convert at 7:56.
Wheatfall scored another touchdown, from 40 yards, to punctuate the Bombers’ next possession.
Zach Collaros completed back-to-back 40-yarders — first to Dalton Schoen, then to a leaping Wheatfall for the major at 9:56. Castillo converted.
Brett Lauther narrowed the Bombers’ lead to 14-3 when he made a 16-yard field goal 17 seconds into the second quarter.
Winnipeg scored its third touchdown when Phillip Webb returned a fumble 90 yards for a TD. Roughriders running back Mario Anderson fumbled on the Bombers’ 20-yard line, one play after Eddie Heckard had returned an interception 45 yards. Castillo’s convert made it 21-3.
A 48-yard bomb from Maier to Joe Robustelli set up a 24-yard field goal by Lauther at 13:12.
Lauther made it 21-9 with a 53-yard field goal at 5:12 of the third quarter.
Newcomer Dawson Hodge kicked a 31-yard field goal at 12:31 of the third frame to make it 24-12. Hodge, from Wilfrid Laurier, signed with the Roughriders on Monday.
Castillo’s 26-yard field goal at 1:50 of the fourth quarter increased the Blue Bombers’ lead to 27-12.
Anderson ran for a four-yard touchdown with 27 seconds left in the fourth quarter. The previous two plays were Anderson receptions of five and 22 yards.
Coan completed the scoring by throwing a pass to University of Saskatchewan Huskies product Daniel Wiebe for a two-point convert.
WIEBE’S WORLD
Wiebe had a busy night.
In addition to catching three passes for 21 yards, he returned four punts for 26 yards and added a 23-yard kickoff return.
“Any opportunity you can get, you just try to take advantage of it,” Wiebe said. “I just try to do my best in every moment.”
Wiebe, who played high school football in Rosetown and Saskatoon before joining the Huskies, savoured his first professional game at Mosaic Stadium.
“It was crazy,” he said. “It’s kind of a dream come true to be able do that.
“I’ve been a Rider fan my whole life. I’ve been wanting to play professional football as long as I can remember. Just to have another opportunity to do that, it’s really nice.
“Obviously, we’ve still got to make the team, so we’ll see how that goes, but it was a lot of fun.”
Wiebe recorded the ninth pre-season two-point convert in Roughriders history. Steve Mazurak is the all-time leader with two (registered three days apart in 1975). Wiebe, Frank Russell (1978), Emanuel Tolbert (1982), Steve Alatorre (1982), Dwight Edwards (1982), Javian Hawkins (2023) and Thomas Bertrand-Hudon (2024) are also on the list.
DELAY OF GAME
The kickoff of Friday’s game was pushed back an hour due to air quality concerns. Kickoff was moved to 8 p.m.
“There was a moment there we weren’t sure we were even going to play,” Mace said. “That was the one thing from us as an organization. We were really hoping we would get to play for those guys (on Friday’s roster), because they’ve worked so freaking hard and they earned that opportunity tonight.
“I’m relieved that we played. Now we do have the film to validate our thoughts going in. Whether it changes our opinion, good or bad, we have the opportunity to do that.
“I was just pleased that everything worked out the way that it did and we were able to kick off.”
The air quality issues arise from wildfires that have created crisis situations and led to widespread evacuations in the north.
“Our thoughts and prayers go out to anybody who has been affected by that,” Maier said.
LAUTHER’S LISTS
Lauther’s 53-yard field goal was the second-longest by a Roughrider in a pre-season game.
He set the record of 55 in his debut with Saskatchewan — on May 27, 2018 in Edmonton.
The 53-yarder — Lauther’s third three-pointer of the game — moved him past Bob Macoritti and into fourth place on the Roughriders’ all-time pre-season field goals list.
Lauther is one shy of third-seeded Jack Abendschan and four behind Paul McCallum. Dave Ridgway is atop the list with 68 pre-season field goals.
Also on Friday, Lauther’s nine points gave him a career total of 67 in the pre-season. He moved past Luca Congi (60) into fifth on the all-time list, behind Ridgway (280), George Reed (144), Abendschan (121), McCallum (102) and Macoritti (98).
EXTRA POINTS
• Heckard’s 45-yarder put him in a three-way tie for the 10th-longest interception return by a Roughrider in a pre-season game. Terry Irvin set the record on June 14, 1984 when he took off for a 91-yard TD against his former team, the Calgary Stampeders.
• Liam Hoskins — the Roughriders’ fifth-round Draft choice in 2025 — had two sacks on Friday. Aaron Patrick added a sack for Saskatchewan.
• Robustelli had 119 yards on six receptions. He amassed the most receiving yards by a Rider in a pre-season game since Eric Guliford caught seven passes for 122 yards against Calgary on June 29, 1999.
• Antoine Brooks Jr. had four special teams tackles to a tie a Roughriders single-game pre-season record. He shares the mark with Bob Poley (June 26, 1992 vs. Winnipeg) and Dan Rashovich (vs. Calgary, June 29, 1999).
• Saskatchewan’s Joe Couch averaged 45.2 yards on six punts, with a net of 40.3. His longest punt, a 53-yarder, had a hang time of 4.83 seconds. Couch was also the holder on placements.
• Coan’s 18 completions and 189 passing yards were the most by a Roughrider in a pre-season game since Brandon Bridge went 20-for-26 for 201 yards against Winnipeg on June 10, 2017 during the Green and White’s first game at new Mosaic Stadium.
• Coan and Maier gave Saskatchewan two passers with a triple-digit yardage total in a pre-season game for the first time since June 19, 2015, when Kevin Glenn (147) and Darian Durant (146) called signals against the visitors from Calgary.
• Anderson scored the 376th pre-season touchdown in Roughriders history. He became the 203rd Roughrider to reach the end zone in pre-season play.
• Announced attendance: 26,293.
SUMMARY
FIRST QUARTER
Wpg — TD Wheatfall 21 pass from Streveler (Castillo convert) 7:44
Bombers moved 78 yards in 12 plays.
Wpg — TD Wheatfall 40 pass from Collaros (Castillo convert) 9:56
Collaros found Schoen and Wheatfall for back-to-back 40-yarders.
SECOND QUARTER
Sask — FG Lauther 16 0:17
Big play was Maier to Picton for 28 yards on second-and-nine.
Wpg — TD Webb 90 fumble return (Castillo convert) 3:00
Webb scooped up Anderson fumble on first play after 45-yard interception return by Heckard.
Sask — FG Lauther 24 13:12
Lauther’s three-pointer was set up by a 48-yard bomb from Maier to Robustelli.
THIRD QUARTER
Sask — FG Lauther 53 5:12
Coan quarterbacked the Roughriders to four first downs in his first series of the game.
Wpg — Castillo FG 31 9:21
Bombers moved 53 yards in eight plays.
Sask — FG Hodge 31 12:31
Coan hit Robustelli for 30 and Wiebe for 16 to set up Hodge’s first points as a pro.
FOURTH QUARTER
Wpg — FG Castillo 26 1:50
Corcoran’s 18-yard reception and Cooley’s 14-yard run were the big plays.
Sask — TD Anderson 4 run (Coan pass to Wiebe for two-point convert) 14:33
Coan went 4-for-4 for 61 yards on scoring drive.
