REGINA – The 112th Grey Cup matchup is officially set. The Saskatchewan Roughriders defeated the BC Lions at Mosaic Stadium by a score of 24-21 to secure a date with the Montreal Alouettes next Sunday.
Similar to the Eastern Final in Hamilton earlier in the day, the Western Final came down to the wire, but this time the home team was able to pull out the victory. Hard running from AJ Ouellette and key defensive stops at the end of the game got the Riders over the line and into the playoff finale for the first time in over ten years.
CFL.ca brings you three key stats from the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ win over the BC Lions in the Western Final.
2025 GREY CUP PLAYOFFS
» Riders beat Lions to earn first Grey Cup appearance since 2013
» Depth Charts: BC | SSK
» Western Final by the numbers
» Game Notes: Lions at Roughriders
1 – MARCUS SAYLES INTERCEPTION
Shortly after AJ Ouellette coughed up a fumble on the first play of a third-quarter drive, the Roughriders defence responded with a takeaway of their own.
Following the lost fumble, Nathan Rourke completed two passes for first downs to bring BC to Saskatchewan’s seven-yard line. His next pass intended for Ayden Eberhardt took a couple of bobbles off of C.J. Reavis and Marcus Sayles was there to snag the ball out of the air for an interception to stop BC from capitalizing on the initial turnover just moments before.
113 – AJ OUELLETTE RUSHING YARDS
Ouellette was the focal point of the Saskatchewan offence for much of Saturday’s Western Final, generating yards in an efficient manner and coming up big when it mattered most.
Saskatchewan’s star runner finished with 113 yards on 17 carries and caught two balls for 13 more yards. One of those catches came on the final drive of the ballgame, with his 10-yard reception giving the Riders a critical first down shortly before Trevor Harris‘ winning throw to Tommy Nield.
2 – BC TWO-AND-OUTS
Saskatchewan head coach Corey Mace took a gamble when he elected to have his team kick a field goal when down seven with less than three minutes remaining. Needing his defence to get Rourke off the field, the Riders’ defence did so twice, forcing consecutive two-and-outs.
Those defensive stops gave Harris and the offence an opportunity to win the game with a touchdown and they obliged, sending Riderville to the 112th Grey Cup.