I was in my first year of Grade 1 when the Saskatchewan Roughriders last boasted at least 12 victories at the 16-game mark.

The year was 1970, when the Green and White posted a 14-2 record and set an enduring (and now endangered) franchise standard for victories.

Considering that my football awakening took place in 1971, I had not experienced a 12-4 Roughriders team until Friday night, when the green gridders clinched first place in the West Division and the CFL’s overall standings by defeating the Toronto Argonauts 27-19 at Mosaic Stadium.

Two games remain on the Roughriders’ regular-season schedule before they enjoy a first-round playoff bye. Then the on-field preparations will begin for the Western Final, to be played here on Nov. 8.

All of this does require some processing.

In all my years as a fervent follower of Canadian professional football, Saskatchewan has finished first only four times — in 1976, 2009, 2019 and, now, 2025. (The previous first-place showings were in 1951, 1966, 1968, 1969 and 1970.)

Until Friday, it had been 49 years since the Roughriders had led the loop in victories.

The 1976 team clinched first place on the last offensive play of the CFL’s regular-season finale — a 33-31 victory over the host Calgary Stampeders. Ron Lancaster’s three-yard touchdown pass to Rhett Dawson gave the Roughriders an 11-5 slate and, for the first time in my experience, top spot.

Nearly a half-century later, we bring you … Friday!

Unlike 1976, not one of the Roughriders’ players celebrated the victory by smoking a cigarette.

In another departure from ’76, Saskatchewan accomplished the three primary regular-season goals with two full weeks remaining before the playoffs.

Home playoff game: Check.

First place in the division: Check.

First place in the league: Check.

That, dear reader, is what you call a productive evening.

And one to celebrate.

Even so, Head Coach Corey Mace didn’t want any part of a Gatorade shower.

This is not Major League Baseball … applaudably. CFL teams save over-the-top celebrations until a championship is won.

Suffice to say that nobody in the Roughriders’ locker room was wearing goggles on Friday night.

Was everyone in a great mood? Absolutely.

Was any perspective lost after the game was won? Not for a millisecond.

I am reminded of a priceless post-game conversation with Logan Ferland, who has dedicated so much time, energy and sweat toward helping a momentous evening such as Friday become a reality.

What was going through your mind, I inquired, while you were walking off the field and hearing the fans cheering?

“I’ll be honest,” the Roughriders’ centre replied, “I was focused on the three or four bad plays I had. That’s where my mindset was — going back to work.

“I think it’s very important to celebrate these moments when they do happen, but it’s also important to stay humble.”

Ferland was also at Mosaic Stadium on Nov. 2, 2019, when the Roughriders nailed down top spot by defeating Edmonton 23-13.

At the time, he was a practice-roster player with the Roughriders and a graduating member of the PFC’s Regina Thunder.

Fifteen days after the clinching conquest of Edmonton, Ferland was on Mosaic Stadium’s west sideline once again when the Winnipeg Blue Bombers outlasted the Roughriders 20-13.

Ferland, like any of us who were there, still recalls the sight and the sound of Cody Fajardo’s pass hitting the north-end crossbar on the final play.

Those disparate experiences from six years ago still resonate with Ferland, who has started every subsequent CFL game for which he has dressed.

“I remember when I was a junior player in 2019 and witnessing what happened then,” the West Division’s reigning lineman-of-the-year said. “I’ve still got a fire burning from that year, even though I was a junior player. I wasn’t competing for a spot on the team at the time, but I’ve still got that fire in my belly from then.

“I hope we can understand that as a group and just continue to get better.”

I concluded our interview by asking Ferland what it was like to be part of such a victory as a Saskatchewan-born player.

“I think the province is proud of us,” Ferland said. “They’re finally getting what they give as a fan base.

“The support from them is unmatched. We’re finally paying that back.”

HOORAY FOR HARRIS

A few notes about the Roughriders’ franchise quarterback …

• Harris is only the fifth No. 1 quarterback of a first-place Roughriders team, following Lancaster (1966, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1976), Fajardo (2019), Glenn Dobbs (1951) and Darian Durant (2009). Make it six if you include Isaac Harker, who was at the controls for the clinching win over Edmonton in 2019. Fajardo missed that game with a torn oblique muscle. It is an exclusive and esteemed group, any way you analyse it.

• The stat line for Harris on Friday: 23-for-29 for 340 yards, with two touchdowns, nary an interception, and a glittering quarterback-efficiency rating of 140.0. Consider, too, that the Roughriders were essentially without both of this year’s 1,000-yard receivers for most of the game. Dohnte Meyers sat out with an ankle injury. KeeSean Johnson missed most the final three quarters with an injury of undetermined nature and severity.

• With 4,437 passing yards, Harris boasts the sixth-highest single-season total in Roughriders history. Kent Austin occupies three slots — first (6,225 in 1992), second (5,754 in 1993) and fifth (4,604 in 1990). Durant is third (5,542 in 2010), followed by Henry Burris (4,647 in 2000).

• The Roughriders’ No. 7 is seemingly destined to break his own team record for completion percentage in a season. He had an accuracy rate of 72.4 per cent in 2024. This year, he is at 73.2.

• Harris is the fifth quarterback in franchise history with 20-plus TD passes in back-to-back seasons, following Lancaster (1972-76), Austin (1990-93), Kerry Joseph (2006-07) and Durant (2009-10, 2012-13).

• The Roughriders’ No. 1 signal-caller has had the superior quarterback-efficiency rating all three times the opposing starter has been Hamilton’s Bo Levi Mitchell (twice) or the B.C. Lions’ Nathan Rourke (once). Harris versus Mitchell: 91.6-89.2 (June 14) and 135.9-45.2 (Aug. 16). Harris versus Rourke: 140.3-105.4 (July 19). Saskatchewan’s record in those games: 3-0.

• Harris has registered a completion percentage of 75 or better in 14 of his 33 regular-season or playoff starts with the Roughriders.

• Saskatchewan sports a 21-10 regular-season record with Harris as a starter. Without him, the Roughriders are 6-14-1.

• And the bottom line: Harris is the starting quarterback for a team that will enter the playoffs with the league’s best record.

ROB-ZERR-VATION

From the too-cheap-to-buy-a-card department: Happy birthday, Arielle Zerr!

Fittingly, one birthday present arrived in the form of a first-place-clinching win on Friday.

Arielle, the Roughriders’ Director of Communications, is an all-star friend and colleague.

Actually, she is my boss — which I also consider a blessing. (You are free to speculate as to whether the sentiment is mutual.)

Arielle, Craig Reynolds (President-CEO) and Anthony Partipilo (Chief Brand Officer) took a chance on a youthful (in geologic years) scribe in February of 2023.

I hoped it would turn into a second dream job, but there was no way of knowing how I (or my new colleagues) would react to a vocational transition that followed 37 wonderful years at the Regina Leader-Post.

My time here has been an absolute joy. I could not work with finer people. For that, and so much else, I am indebted to Arielle.

How many people do you know who intuitively, automatically know the right thing to say and/or do?

How many people invariably look out for others before giving even remote consideration to themselves?

Arielle is, to borrow a trendy description, one of one.

Long before I signed on with the Roughriders, Arielle was someone to whom I could turn for advice on virtually any matter.

It was her suggestion, one fine day nearly five years ago, that my wife and I consider fostering a dog. At that point in my insular existence, I didn’t even know that dog fostering was a thing.

Chryssoula Filippakopoulos and her underqualified husband welcomed Candy to our home on April 21, 2021 after her fortnight of residency at the Regina Humane Society.

Candy was a foster dog for about as long as it took to type this sentence.

We loved her instantly.

Thank you, Arielle, for the gift of Candy — and for more than I could possibly acknowledge or repay.

Although, mind you, I do owe her $50 for a Montreal Expos hat she found for me while in Toronto.

If anyone deserves a tip of the newly acquired cap, it is Arielle.

A GREAT FRIEND AND FAN

Lorne Cherney, who along with his wife Mary Anne proudly owned Roughriders tickets for 40 years, passed away on Wednesday morning. He was 75.

During an interview two years ago, Lorne recounted how the Roughriders’ 1966 Grey Cup victory ignited his love of the CFL.

“I started out watching Ron Lancaster and George Reed and saw everything after that,” said Lorne, who along with Mary Anne was the subject of a Riderville.com feature that was published on Sept. 30, 2023.

For the Cherneys, the highlight was being in the stands at the edifice formerly known as Taylor Field to see Saskatchewan defeat the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 45-23 in the 101st Grey Cup Game, played on Nov. 24, 2013.

“It was almost like it was magical,” Mary Anne, who was at the Roughriders/Argos game on Friday, remembered during our 2023 interview.

“Who would have ever thought that the Rolling Stones would come to Regina? That’s what it was like.”

Lorne remembered a time when a Roughriders Grey Cup victory, period, was difficult to imagine. Then he sat in front of a non-state-of-the-art TV and watched Saskatchewan defeat Ottawa 29-14 at Empire Stadium in Vancouver on Nov. 26, 1966.

“It was black and white,” Lorne told me, “with shades of grey.”

ROLL CREDITS

• Nice people who deserve a plug: Mary Anne Cherney, Marv Kereluke, Julie Kereluke, Arielle Zerr, Brett Lauther, Jill Lauther, Townes Lauther, Deborah Jones, Logan Ferland, Trevor Harris, Travis Brown, Lawrence Berthelet, Ramon Koenig, C.J. Reavis, Albert Awachie, Logan Ferland, Sheldrick Redwine, Aaron Patrick, Craig Reynolds, Anthony Partipilo, Brayden Schager, Joe Ralko, Thomas Bertrand-Hudon, A.J. Allen, Josh Idok0, Blake Tiedeman, Karina Peterson, Morgan Fleury, Matt Erichsen, Rylen Hill, Julia Vaughan, Rebecca Perigny and Lynette Nishnik.