{"id":191498,"date":"2025-10-05T14:54:29","date_gmt":"2025-10-05T14:54:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/191498\/"},"modified":"2025-10-05T14:54:29","modified_gmt":"2025-10-05T14:54:29","slug":"lets-kick-around-saskatchewan-roughriders-11th-victory-of-cfl-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/191498\/","title":{"rendered":"Let’s kick around Saskatchewan Roughriders’ 11th victory of CFL season"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you wanna see fine art, go to a gallery and don\u2019t bother replaying Friday\u2019s unsightly CFL game between the Saskatchewan Roughriders<\/a> and hometown Ottawa Redblacks.<\/p>\n

Saskatchewan won 20-13<\/a> and improved its league-best record to 11-4 against the CFL-worst (4-11) Redblacks, but the game was akin to something Pablo Picasso or Andy Warhol would have stashed in their closets. Worth keeping, just in case, but not displayed too prominently.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have played on great offences before and there\u2019s always a time right before you were going to explode and become who you want to be, little things like this can happen,\u201d said Riders quarterback Trevor Harris during a postgame media scrum, explaining his team\u2019s mid-game hibernation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not going to apologize for the win.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harris completed 27 of 33 passes for 341 yards<\/a> with a 66-yard touchdown pass to Dohnte Meyers that ended Saskatchewan\u2019s scoring early in the fourth quarter, although there were long stretches of sloppiness when the offence looked incapable of moving the football.<\/p>\n

Harris vowed his team would no longer suffer from those \u201cself-inflicted wounds.\u201d He should also be credited with a left-handed completion, flung forward a few yards while being tackled, to fullback Thomas Bertrand-Hudon. It was actually quite symbolic of Saskatchewan\u2019s offence, getting things done with the wrong hand, not at all smoothly.<\/p>\n

Interceptions by each starting linebacker<\/a> \u2014 A.J. Allen, Jameer Thurman and Antoine Brooks Jr., who returned his second-quarter pick 85 yards for a touchdown \u2014 helped snap the Roughriders\u2019 two-game losing skid, forced the Redblacks to replace starting quarterback Dru Brown and eliminated Ottawa from playoff contention. Backup QB Dustin Crum threw Ottawa\u2019s lone TD pass.<\/p>\n

Brooks made his first CFL start at weak-side linebacker because C.J. Reavis shifted to safety, where the Roughriders had lost starter Nelson Lokombo and backup Jaxon Ford to injuries before releasing third-stringer Kosi Onyeka last week for breaking team rules.<\/p>\n

The piecework defence held together rather admirably until losing all-star halfback Rolan Milligan Jr. with a knee injury, allowing the Roughriders to overcome an extended offensive disappearance and the first-game jitters of kicker Campbell Fair.<\/p>\n

With kicker Brett Lauther sporting a league-worst accuracy mark<\/a> (69 per cent) after missing two of four field goals in a 27-25 loss to the Edmonton Elks, the Roughriders moved him to the one-game injury list so they could assess Fair.<\/p>\n

A University of Ottawa product<\/a> who joined Saskatchewan\u2019s practice roster when Lauther\u2019s struggles appeared to be career-ending, Fair embarrassingly missed both converts Friday. Saskatchewan\u2019s coaches chose to punt instead of letting Fair try a makeable, fourth-quarter field goal.<\/p>\n

Head coach Corey Mace has pointed to his veteran kicker\u2019s career accuracy rate of 81 per cent and regularly said Lauther isn\u2019t meeting expectations, but it appears the Roughriders are stuck with him for the rest of this campaign.<\/p>\n

With their next game slated for Friday against the visiting Toronto Argonauts, the Roughriders have clinched a postseason berth and need one victory in their final three regular-season matches to place first in the West. That would give them an opening-round bye and hosting privileges for the divisional final Nov. 8.<\/p>\n

The Roughriders opened Friday\u2019s game with an 84-yard touchdown drive. Fair missed the convert and it took the visitors another eight offensive possessions \u2014 through two full quarters \u2014 to again gain that many yards.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not overly concerned.\u201d Mace told reporters. \u201cI thought we moved the ball efficiently at times but we keep stumbling on ourselves, especially in the scoring zone.\u201d<\/p>\n

By the fourth quarter the Riders\u2019 offence was finally chugging along and marched to Ottawa\u2019s five-yard line with a 20-10 lead and 2 1\/2 minutes remaining, until an I-can\u2019t-believe-they\u2019re-passing play went awry.<\/p>\n

Redblacks linebacker Davion Taylor strip-sacked Harris, defensive end Bryce Carter grabbed the fumble and rumbled towards Saskatchewan\u2019s end zone until he was unbelievably tackled from behind by his lone pursuer, hard-charging Riders tailback A.J. Ouellette<\/a>. Three plays later, Ottawa\u2019s Lewis Ward kicked a 26-yard field goal to complete the scoring.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat play (Ouellette) made after the turnover,\u201d said Mace. \u201cWe championed the sh** out of that! That was an incredible play by him to be able to do that for his teammates.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ouellette scored the game\u2019s first touchdown and gained 73 all-purpose yards on 21 touches, sometimes while playing short-yardage quarterback in the absence of injured but usually unstoppable Tommy Stevens. Always scrappy and with full, grind-it-out effort, Ouellette\u2019s performance wasn\u2019t necessarily a work of art but it certainly left an impression.<\/p>\n

Related<\/p>\n

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