“Check ball” is one of the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ signature sayings for 2026. “Check blood pressure” is also applicable.
The Roughriders’ first two games of the young CFL season have not been easy on the central nervous system — which is calmed considerably, we should emphasize, by a 2-0 record.
Saskatchewan opened defence of its Grey Cup championship with a 31-27 victory over the B.C. Lions on June 13. Trevor Harris threw a game-winning, six-yard touchdown pass to Samuel Emilus with 46 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter at Mosaic Stadium.
That down-to-the-wire nailbiter was a meditation session in comparison to Saturday’s emotional endurance test at McMahon Stadium.
The Calgary Stampeders forced overtime after overcoming deficits of 23-7 and 31-17. Extra time was extended to the limit before a one-yard touchdown run by short-yardage quarterback Tommy Stevens provided the final points in a 40-37 classic.
Which brings us back to “check ball” — a basketball term the Roughriders have modified for their purposes.
“No matter what (the circumstances are), we don’t care,” Head Coach Corey Mace explained one day before the B.C. game. “Check the ball. Let’s go play.”
As if by script, the Green and White has won its first two games after shrugging off various forms of adversity — checking the ball at a much higher level than, say, the San Antonio Spurs during the recent NBA Finals.
“I think we always fall back to what our culture is,” Harris said from Calgary on Saturday. “People don’t rise or fall to a level based on what happens. You rise or fall to the level of your training and what your culture is.
“(The Stampeders) made a great comeback. They’re a good team. Check ball. What’s the situation? Let’s go play. They scored? Cool. Let’s respond, and that’s what we did.”
Harris noted that “we kind of gifted them 14 points,” and that is inarguable.
His fumble on the Roughriders’ 14-yard line was quickly converted into the Stampeders’ first touchdown.
Calgary’s second six-pointer was the result of a 120-yard missed field goal return in the waning seconds of the first half. Tyreik McAllister was off to the races shortly after a second touchdown pass from Harris to Kian Schaffer-Baker had given the visitors a 23-7 lead.
Harris’s third TD toss, to KeeSean Johnson, was followed by a two-point convert that put Saskatchewan ahead 31-17 with 19½ minutes left in the wild West Division game.
Undaunted, Calgary rallied with back-to-back fourth-quarter touchdowns that forced overtime.
The Saskatchewan defence was much stingier during extra time.
The opening offensive series of OT was halted when Roughriders defensive end James Vaughters stopped quarterback Vernon Adams Jr. after a one-yard scramble on second-and-10. Calgary had to settle for a chip-shot field goal.
Saskatchewan answered with a three-pointer of its own to extend the game to a second OT period.
Once again, the Roughriders’ defence delivered. After Calgary was assessed a holding penalty, rookie defensive end Desmond Evans jarred the ball loose from Adams as he was about to throw. The play was ruled an incompletion, as opposed to a fumble, and Calgary was in a second-and-20 predicament.
Defensive Co-ordinator Joshua Bell ordered up a send-everyone-except-Dave-Thomas blitz, which prompted Adams Jr. to throw a quick pass to Clark Barnes. The Stampeders’ receiver gained 17 yards before being tackled by Tevaughn Campbell. Cue another Stampeders field goal.
“As a defence, we were able to hold strong and execute to make sure we gave ourselves an opportunity to go down and score and win,” said Mace, whose team did precisely that.
With Saskatchewan scrimmaging the ball at Calgary’s 35-yard line, Harris quickly found a diving Emilus for 12 yards and a first down.
“I usually put the ball to a spot where he can get to it and the DB can’t,” Harris said. “He routinely makes that play.”
Thomas Bertrand-Hudon followed up with a three-yard run. On second-and-seven, Calgary’s initial coverage was sound, forcing Harris to roll to his right in search of an open receiver. He found Dhel Duncan-Busby, who made a sliding catch near the sideline for eight yards and another first down.
From the Calgary 12, Harris threaded a pass to Schaffer-Baker, who absorbed a jarring hit and nearly scored his third touchdown of the game.
“I kind of put it high, just in case, because I thought one of their D-linemen was about to shoot his hand (in the air),” Harris said. “I didn’t want the ball to get tipped because if the ball gets tipped over the middle, it spells disaster.
“Schaff made a great play and almost got in the end zone. He got to the one-foot line.”
Stevens, who is automatic in such situations, handled the rest.
“They say the game’s not over until the clock hits zero,” Schaffer-Baker said. “We had a little bit of extra time on that clock, but we kept fighting and we found a way.”