Saturday\u2019s emotional endurance test at McMahon Stadium.<\/a><\/p>\nThe 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.<\/p>\n
Which brings us back to \u201ccheck ball\u201d \u2014 a basketball term the Roughriders have modified for their purposes.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo matter what (the circumstances are), we don\u2019t care,\u201d Head Coach Corey Mace explained one day before the B.C. game. \u201cCheck the ball. Let\u2019s go play.\u201d<\/p>\n
As if by script, the Green and White has won its first two games after shrugging off various forms of adversity \u2014 checking the ball at a much higher level than, say, the San Antonio Spurs during the recent NBA Finals.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we always fall back to what our culture is,\u201d Harris said from Calgary on Saturday. \u201cPeople don\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n
\u201c(The Stampeders) made a great comeback. They\u2019re a good team. Check ball. What\u2019s the situation? Let\u2019s go play. They scored? Cool. Let\u2019s respond, and that\u2019s what we did.\u201d<\/p>\n
Harris noted that \u201cwe kind of gifted them 14 points,\u201d and that is inarguable.<\/p>\n
His fumble on the Roughriders\u2019 14-yard line was quickly converted into the Stampeders\u2019 first touchdown.<\/p>\n
Calgary\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
Harris\u2019s third TD toss, to KeeSean Johnson, was followed by a two-point convert that put Saskatchewan ahead 31-17 with 19\u00bd minutes left in the wild West Division game.<\/p>\n
Undaunted, Calgary rallied with back-to-back fourth-quarter touchdowns that forced overtime.<\/p>\n
The Saskatchewan defence was much stingier during extra time.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Saskatchewan answered with a three-pointer of its own to extend the game to a second OT period.<\/p>\n
Once again, the Roughriders\u2019 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.<\/p>\n
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\u2019 receiver gained 17 yards before being tackled by Tevaughn Campbell. Cue another Stampeders field goal.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs 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,\u201d said Mace, whose team did precisely that.<\/p>\n
With Saskatchewan scrimmaging the ball at Calgary\u2019s 35-yard line, Harris quickly found a diving Emilus for 12 yards and a first down.<\/p>\n
\u201cI usually put the ball to a spot where he can get to it and the DB can\u2019t,\u201d Harris said. \u201cHe routinely makes that play.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas Bertrand-Hudon followed up with a three-yard run. On second-and-seven, Calgary\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cI 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),\u201d Harris said. \u201cI didn\u2019t want the ball to get tipped because if the ball gets tipped over the middle, it spells disaster.<\/p>\n
\u201cSchaff made a great play and almost got in the end zone. He got to the one-foot line.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stevens, who is automatic in such situations, handled the rest.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey say the game\u2019s not over until the clock hits zero,\u201d Schaffer-Baker said. \u201cWe had a little bit of extra time on that clock, but we kept fighting and we found a way.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cCheck ball\u201d is one of the Saskatchewan Roughriders\u2019 signature sayings for 2026. \u201cCheck blood pressure\u201d is also applicable.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":753408,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":["post-753407","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cfl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canadian-football-league","tag-canadianfootballleague","tag-cfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/753407","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=753407"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/753407\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/753408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=753407"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=753407"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=753407"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}