With first place in the West Division assured, the Saskatchewan Roughriders extended another playoff-bound opponent to the limit on Saturday before losing a 27-21 nailbiter to the visiting B.C. Lions in the CFL’s 2025 regular-season finale.
Saskatchewan (12-6) is now idle until the Western Final on Nov. 8 (5:30 p.m., Mosaic Stadium).
“We put in the work all season to make sure that we were in the position we’re in right now,” Roughriders middle linebacker Jameer Thurman said.
With Saturday’s win, the Lions clinched second place and will play host to the Calgary Stampeders (also 11-7) in a first-round playoff game in one week’s time.
After securing first place on Oct. 10, the Roughriders lost 17-16 to the host Winnipeg Blue Bombers eight days ago. Winnipeg (10-8), which finished fourth in the West, will be a crossover participant in the East Division playoffs. Winnipeg will visit the Montreal Alouettes on Nov. 1.
“The last two weeks, with the way our team went out there and scrapped, I’m proud of that,” Roughriders Head Coach Corey Mace said. “We know each other.
“We want to win. It sucks (to lose) but I know for sure, no matter what, this team will scrap. That’s truthfully some of the DNA that you’re going to have going into these playoffs. It certainly solidified what I figured I knew about this team.”
Before 25,416 spectators on Saturday, B.C. scored on the opening play from scrimmage when Nathan Rourke hit Ayden Eberhardt down the right sideline for a 63-yard pass-and-run touchdown. The convert attempt was wide.
Saskatchewan answered with a 14-play, 72-yard march that consumed 7:33 and concluded with short-yardage quarterback Jack Coan’s one-yard TD run. Michael Hughes, making his debut with the Roughriders, added the convert.
Coan’s TD increased the Roughriders’ streak of consecutive opening-possession majors to four games.
B.C. responded with a 49-yard field goal by Sean Whyte, who gave his team a 9-7 lead.
Hughes answered with a 28-yard field goal that put Saskatchewan ahead 10-9 early in the second quarter.
Carl Meyer’s 73-yard punt single created a 10-10 tie at 3:06 of the second frame.
Coan’s second TD of the game, also on a one-yard run, restored the Roughriders’ lead at 7:21 of the second quarter. Hughes added the convert and followed up with a 90-yard kickoff single to put the Riders ahead 18-10.
At that point, the decision was made to remove Roughriders quarterback Trevor Harris from the game, which did not have a bearing on the team’s playoff placing.
On three possessions with Harris in the game, Saskatchewan produced two touchdowns and a field goal.
“I was really happy with the way he played,” Mace said. “I thought he was super decisive with the ball.”
The Roughriders’ nominee for the CFL’s George Reed Most Outstanding Player award was 10-for-11 for 112 yards and added a one-yard TD run before being replaced by Jake Maier with six minutes left in the second quarter.
Saskatchewan’s second touchdown drive was extended when Harris scrambled for 13 yards — his longest run of the season — on second-and-six.
“I was just screaming, ‘Get down!’ ” Mace said. “He gave the ‘T-Mobile’ (gesture). I said, ‘Well, you called … I answered. We’re going to pull you.’ We got him out of there.
“I was super-happy with his performance. He looked like he was having fun and you want that.”
Whyte’s subsequent 14-yard field goal made it 18-13, Saskatchewan, and concluded the first-half scoring.
The Lions went ahead 19-18 at 4:40 of the third quarter when Rourke and Eberhardt connected for a 22-yard score. The two-point convert attempt failed.
A 42-yard field goal by Hughes at 2:51 of the third quarter gave the Roughriders a 21-19 lead.
The Lions went ahead at 10:55 of the fourth quarter when Rourke found Keon Hatcher for a seven-yard TD. The same duo collaborated on a two-point convert that ultimately concluded the scoring.
JAKE’S TAKE
In relief of Harris, Maier completed 16 of 24 passes for 154 yards, with no touchdowns and one interception.
“I thought we came out humming,” Maier said. “I thought Trevor played awesome. I thought in the first half, we played really well.
“I thought the group in the second half, starting with me, needed to do a better job of putting one touchdown drive together to win us that game. That’s something I’m going to think about it a lot tonight.”
Maier had praise for Kian Schaffer-Baker, who had six receptions for 69 yards in his fourth game since returning from a foot injury he sustained in the regular-season opener.
“Schaff, he’s the man,” Maier said. “It’s great when we have him back in our offence. He just creates such separation. He catches the ball in tight windows.”
WHISTLE BLOWER
An apparent 107-yard fumble-return touchdown by Roughriders cornerback Tevaughn Campbell was negated when, upon review, the CFL’s Replay Centre determined the whistle blew just as the ball had been jarred loose and retrieved on the home team’s three-yard line.
The turnover stood, but Saskatchewan began a possession 107 yards away from the south end zone. It was the second time this season an official’s whistle blew before a recovered fumble was returned all the way by a Roughrider.
“Certainly, there’s going to be times when those calls will fall our way, and I’m going to be as happy as (bleep),” Mace said. “Tonight, they just didn’t fall our way.
“The whistle was blown and we were awarded the ball. Obviously, we’d like the points, but at that point there’s nothing I can do about it. There’s not anything we can do about it except that we got the ball and kept them out of the end zone. It was our turn to go play offence.
“It is what it is. I just hope the football gods will bless us — and we’ll take it, for sure.”
The fumble was forced by defensive halfback DaMarcus Fields, who stopped Hatcher just shy of the goal line at 3:41 of the third quarter.
HUGHES NEWS
Hughes made all four of his placement attempts in his professional football debut.
He kicked field goals of 42 and 28 yards and made both converts.
“I had that moment of gratitude (before the game),” the former Appalachian State Mountaineers standout said. “That was something I was really looking forward to. It was hard for me not to get emotional, just because of the journey that I’ve been on over the last 10 years.
“It was a super-special moment.”
After a decade of kicking footballs, Hughes registered his first rouge — courtesy of a 90-yard single on a kickoff.
“I didn’t know what a single was until I got up here,” said Hughes, who signed with Saskatchewan on Oct. 7. “But I did tell Kent (Maugeri, Special Teams Co-ordinator) when I ran out on to the field, ‘I’m trying to get a single here.’ ”
He did so with a flourish, splitting the south-end uprights from 70 yards away before the ball travelled an additional 20 for the single.
“I didn’t mean to, but that’s how it worked out,” Hughes said. “It was good to get a rouge.
“I actually didn’t know it went through (the uprights) until we got over to the sideline and they were like, ‘Hey, I think that went through the posts.’ ”
Hughes became the 50th player to kick at least one field goal for the Roughriders (or the Regina Rugby Club), the 78th to register a convert and the 118th to record a single.
He stepped in for Brett Lauther, who is nursing a back injury that forced him to miss another game earlier this month.
A 22-year-old native of Charleston, W. Va., Hughes became the first American to kick a field goal for the Roughriders since Eddie Johnson on Aug. 5, 2011. Johnson connected on a 42-yarder against the host Lions.
MARIO MAKES HIS MARK
On the first play of the second half, Mario Alford became the Roughriders’ All-Time kickoff return yardage leader.
A 31-yard return gave Alford 4,104 yards. He finished the game with 4,124. Corey Holmes held the previous mark of 4,077.
“I want to thank God,” Alford said. “It’s a blessing, for sure, but I want to keep the main thing the main thing. That’s an individual accolade, which is great, but we’ve got one goal in mind and that’s to win the Grey Cup.
“We’ve got to win this next playoff game so we can get there.”
THANK HUGH
Kent Paul, the Roughriders’ Chief Financial Officer, was recognized on the SaskTel MaxTron as the 2025 recipient of the Hugh McKay Memorial Award.
The award, presented annually, honours a Roughriders employee who embodies the same admirable characteristics McKay displayed during his time with the Green and White.
McKay was a member of the organization for 21 years. He was the team’s Manager of Facilities and Stadium Operations when he passed away in untimely fashion in August of 2019.
EXTRA POINTS
• Harris topped his own Roughriders record for completion percentage in a season. This year: 73.57 per cent. Last year: 72.42%. He also moved past Kevin Glenn and into ninth all-time in completions by a Rider (662).
• Roughriders safety Nelson Lokombo, who had missed the previous seven games with an ankle injury, returned to the lineup on Saturday and made his first career CFL regular-season interception. His first pick of any description was also against the Lions — in last year’s playoff matchup at Mosaic Stadium.
• The Roughriders’ A.J. Ouellette finished second in the league in rushing yards (1,222). He had 11 carries for 43 yards on Saturday. Ouellette overtook B.C.’s James Butler (1,213), who was limited to 28 yards on eight carries in the regular-season finale.
• Coan’s second TD in as many games concluded the 2025 Roughriders’ fourth possession of at least seven minutes. He capped a drive that consumed 7:33. Earlier this year, the Roughriders had drives of 7:44, 7:18 and 7:16. Saturday’s 14-yard drive was the Roughriders’ longest of the season in terms of plays.
• Coan registered the 483rd multi-touchdown game by a Roughrider, playoffs included. He also became the 32nd quarterback with at least two TDs in a game. Kent Austin (1993), Rocky Butler (2002) and Michael Bishop (2008) share the single-game record of three.
• Saskatchewan ran 20 of the first quarter’s 24 offensive plays. Time of possession after 15 minutes: Roughriders 11:32, Lions 3:28. The Roughriders’ final time of possession was 36:58 — the team’s second-best this season.
• The Roughriders’ Tommy Nield had a career-high eight receptions for 75 yards. His previous high of seven catches was registered for the Toronto Argonauts against Montreal on Sept. 15, 2023.
• Thomas Bertrand-Hudon led the Roughriders in special teams tackles (three) in addition to carrying the ball 10 times for 36 yards. He added a 12-yard reception.
• Roughriders linebacker Aubrey Miller Jr. had a career-high nine defensive tackles.
• Malik Carney and Habakkuk Baldonado each had a sack for Saskatchewan. With eight sacks, Carney finished in a three-way tie for fifth in the league.
• The Roughriders’ first punt of the game was launched by Jesse Mirco at 5:15 of the third quarter. He averaged 52.7 yards on three punts.
• A.J. Allen led the 2025 Roughriders in defensive tackles (87), finishing one ahead of Thurman.