{"id":291589,"date":"2025-11-18T19:09:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-18T19:09:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/291589\/"},"modified":"2025-11-18T19:09:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-18T19:09:10","slug":"four-measly-grey-cups-for-115-year-old-saskatchewan-roughriders-make-that-five","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/291589\/","title":{"rendered":"Four measly Grey Cups for 115-year-old Saskatchewan Roughriders? Make that five!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>KAYLE NEIS\/REGINA LEADER-POST
\nSaskatchewan Roughriders fans celebrate with a mock Grey Cup on the corner of Regina\u2019s Albert Street and Victoria Avenue after their team won the 2025 CFL championship game with a 25-17 victory over the Montreal Alouettes in Winnipeg on Nov. 16\/25.<\/p>\n

Darrell Davis<\/p>\n

Regina Leader-Post<\/p>\n

It\u2019s now the Fab Five.<\/p>\n

The Saskatchewan Roughriders, led by 39-year-old quarterback Trevor Harris and second-year head coach Corey Mace, caught the Grey Cup legends they were chasing Sunday night with a nerve-wracking, 25-17 victory over the hard-charging Montreal Alouettes inside Winnipeg\u2019s sold-out Princess Auto Stadium.<\/p>\n

Only four previous iterations of the 115-year-old Roughriders had won Grey Cups and those old ghosts \u2014 from 1966, 1989, 2007 and 2013 \u2014 had been circling hard in recent days, reminding everyone the community-owned franchise hadn\u2019t won a CFL championship since a memorable victory 12 years ago in a home-field stadium that doesn\u2019t even exist anymore. Fans poured onto the streets of Regina in celebration afterwards, wearing Riders gear while carrying faux Cups and real beverages for the main gathering at Albert St. and Victoria Ave.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou could kind of feel the weight,\u201d Harris, the game\u2019s most valuable player for completing 23 of 27 passes for 302 yards with no touchdowns or interceptions, said during a postgame media conference.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody keeps saying, \u2018You\u2019ve only won four.\u2019 You see your fans online, defending the team and they\u2019re like, \u2018You guys only have four Grey Cups!\u2019 Well, now we have five and I\u2019m sure they\u2019ll say, \u2018Well, now you only have five.\u2019 But we\u2019ve won the most recent one, so there you go.\u201d<\/p>\n

A 13-year CFL veteran with five teams \u2014 including the Alouettes, who he left to join Saskatchewan as a free agent in 2023 \u2014 Harris won his first Grey Cup as a starter. He lost his previous start with the Ottawa Redblacks in 2018, but won rings as a backup in 2016 with Ottawa and as a CFL rookie in 2012 with the Toronto Argonauts.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s something the media is going to talk about,\u201d said Harris. \u201cYou know, you can\u2019t win the big one.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I feel like I\u2019ve done that my whole life, performing in big moments. I\u2019ve had some bigger games in playoff games, but this is a total team effort.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harris has an opportunity now to supersede his Riders predecessors \u2014 Ron Lancaster, Kent Austin, Kerry Joseph and Darian Durant \u2014 as Cup-hoisting quarterbacks by winning back-to-back championships. Except he\u2019s a free agent, who has repeatedly left unanswered questions about possibly retiring in the off-season.<\/p>\n

Roughriders general manager Jeremy O\u2019Day told reporters he\u2019s eager to re-sign Harris for 2026. O\u2019Day, an offensive lineman on the 2007 squad and the team\u2019s assistant general manager in 2013, has built a roster capable of repeating.<\/p>\n

After fielding an offensive line that was ridiculed three years ago, the rebuilt group protected Harris so perfectly against the Alouettes that he afterwards joked about not having to wear shoulder pads.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Day supervised drafts that acquired an impressive array of non-import receivers, including Sam Emilus, who was the game\u2019s outstanding Canadian after catching 10 passes for 108 yards.<\/p>\n

During the past two seasons O\u2019Day has added proven running back A.J. Ouellette, tackle Jermarcus Hardrick, linebacker Jameer Thurman, cornerbacks Tevaughn Campbell and Marcus Sayles and defensive end Malik Carney to join homegrown defensive backs Rolan Milligan Jr. and C.J. Reavis, linebacker A.J. Allen and centre Logan Ferland. Ouellette helped with pass protection while gaining 83 yards and a touchdown on 17 carries.<\/p>\n

Needing a short-yardage quarterback, O\u2019Day signed unstoppable Tommy Stevens, who plunged for two touchdowns Sunday while his predecessor, Shea Patterson, subsequently joined the Alouettes and fumbled away the football during a fourth-quarter sneak. Campbell forced the fumble and Sayles recovered in the end zone, preserving an eight-point lead that survived a missed 39-yard field goal by Saskatchewan\u2019s Brett Lauther.<\/p>\n

Campbell also grabbed one of three interceptions thrown by Davis Alexander, who had won 13 straight games as Montreal\u2019s starting quarterback and nearly rallied his team from a 25-7, third-quarter deficit despite being slowed by a bad hamstring.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Day\u2019s best overall move, though, was hiring Mace, who immediately established a team culture focused on family and love.<\/p>\n

It seemed hokey, except everyone bought into the notion so thoroughly. Rather than playing for themselves, Mace\u2019s Roughriders were playing for each other, the province and their fans.<\/p>\n

They handled criticism and adversity with aplomb, humbly deflected praise, kept their profiles low key when off the field, supported Lauther through his early-season struggles and quickly dispatched defensive back Kosi Onyeka midseason when he \u201cdidn\u2019t meet\u201d the team\u2019s standards for its code of conduct, according to the head coach who has now joined Eagle Keys, John Gregory, Austin and Corey Chamblin in the pantheon of Saskatchewan\u2019s championship-winning coaches.<\/p>\n

\u201cI get so emotional just thinking about how bad I want it for all these guys,\u201d said Mace, who won a Grey Cup in 2014 as a Calgary Stampeders defensive tackle and twice as an assistant coach (Calgary in 2018; Toronto in 2022).<\/p>\n

\u201cYou see the work of the players, football ops, equipment, everybody in the building for us on the fourth floor in business, everybody works their ass off to make sure this is a product that our fan base will be proud of. And to end it like this, that\u2019s the best part of being a head coach.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mace\u2019s jacket was soaked and his hair was still wet. For two seasons he had forbidden his players to douse him in Gatorade until they were celebrating a Grey Cup victory. It was orange and it splashed all over any ghosts sitting on his shoulders.<\/p>\n

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