{"id":779351,"date":"2026-07-04T07:37:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-04T07:37:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/779351\/"},"modified":"2026-07-04T07:37:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-04T07:37:16","slug":"mathew-sextons-return-td-lifts-roughriders-past-redblacks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/779351\/","title":{"rendered":"Mathew Sexton’s return TD lifts Roughriders past REDBLACKS"},"content":{"rendered":"

OTTAWA \u2014 Mathew Sexton<\/a>\u2019s punt return touchdown helped swing a back-and-forth contest on Friday night at TD Place Stadium, as the Saskatchewan Roughriders held on to defeat the Ottawa REDBLACKS 27-22 in FanDuel Canada Day Weekend action.<\/p>\n

The Riders weathered Ottawa pressure in the first and final quarters, with Sexton providing the key special teams score and Trevor Harris<\/a> taking control of the offence. Saskatchewan\u2019s pivot finished with 243 yards and two touchdowns, surpassing Tom Clements for 12th on the CFL\u2019s all-time passing yards leaderboard with a third-quarter completion to Johnny Johnson III.<\/p>\n

The REDBLACKS were sharp across all three phases to start. A.J. Allen<\/a> set the tone, intercepting a deflected pass on the opening series against his former team, and Cade McDonald<\/a> followed with a catch-and-run from out of the flat for his first CFL major. On special teams, Brian Cole broke through to block Oscar Chapman\u2019s punt off his helmet, setting up a short Brett Lauther<\/a> field goal.<\/p>\n

It was a different story in the second quarter. Harris got the Riders on the board, finishing a 10-play, 75-yard drive with a pass to Dhel Duncan-Busby for the score. On the ensuing kickoff, Kalil Pimpleton<\/a> had his pocket picked by Nick Wiebe, and Saskatchewan eventually tied the game on Alex Hale\u2019s three-pointer.<\/p>\n

KeeSean Johnson was active throughout the half, hauling in all seven of his targets for 99 yards as the REDBLACKS secondary kept throws contested. The third-year receiver finished with a game-high 137 yards on nine receptions.<\/p>\n

Saskatchewan built on its momentum out of the break, forcing a quick two-and-out from Jake Maier<\/a> and company before Sexton walked the sideline and returned Noah Gettman\u2019s punt for a touchdown. Harris added on to end the third, leading the Riders through the air and pinning one to Johnson to make it 27-16.<\/p>\n

Ottawa had its counter-punch in the fourth, lining up at the one after Eugene Lewis<\/a> hauled in a deep ball through double coverage. Bryson Barnes<\/a> leapt over the pile for his first CFL touchdown, but Greg Bell<\/a> was stopped on the two-point convert, keeping it a five-point game.<\/p>\n

With the threat of a comeback still lingering past the three-minute warning, Saskatchewan\u2019s defence came up with a stop, stuffing Bryson Barnes<\/a> on a third-down sneak to turn it over on downs. The Riders\u2019 ground game brought it home, with Tommy Stevens<\/a> taking five touches for 29 yards to set Harris up in victory formation.<\/p>\n

Maier finished the day with 259 passing yards on a season-high 76 per cent clip. Justin Hardy<\/a> led all Ottawa receivers with 92 yards on five receptions.<\/p>\n

\"FANDUELFANDUEL CANADA DAY WEEKEND
\u00bb Depth Charts:\u00a0SSK<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0OTT<\/a>
\u00bb Saskatchewan, Ottawa by the numbers<\/a>
\u00bb\u00a0Game Notes: Roughriders at REDBLACKS<\/a>
\u00bb\u00a0Sign up and watch CFL games on CFL+ in the U.S. and Internationally<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

SCORING PLAYS<\/p>\n

Jake Maier<\/a> 15-yard touchdown pass to Cade McDonald<\/a> (10:01, Q1) | OTT 7 SSK 0
\nBrett Lauther<\/a> 32-yard field goal (6:04, Q1) | OTT 10 SSK 0
\nTrevor Harris<\/a> 13-yard touchdown pass to Dhel Duncan-Busby (12:48, Q2) | OTT 10 SSK 7
\nAlex Hale 21-yard field goal (8:50, Q2) | SSK 10 OTT 10
\nBrett Lauther<\/a> 40-yard field goal (6:22, Q2) | OTT 13 SSK 10
\nAlex Hale 36-yard field goal (2:53, Q2) | SSK 13 OTT 13
\nMathew Sexton<\/a> 101-yard punt return touchdown (12:37, Q3) | SSK 20 OTT 13
\nBrett Lauther<\/a> 18-yard field goal (3:49, Q3)\u00a0| SSK 20 OTT 16
\nTrevor Harris<\/a> 23-yard passing touchdown to KeeSean Johnson (0:00, Q3) | SSK 27 OTT 16
\nBryson Barnes<\/a> one-yard touchdown run (11:12, Q4) | SSK 27 OTT 22<\/p>\n

NEXT UP<\/p>\n

The Ottawa REDBLACKS head to Edmonton in Week 6 to take on the Elks. Edmonton has won the last three meetings between the teams, sweeping the season series in 2025 before opening the 2026 campaign with a victory over Ottawa in the nation\u2019s capital.<\/p>\n

The Saskatchewan Roughriders continue their road trip in Week 6 with a visit to Hamilton to face the Tiger-Cats. It will be the first meeting between the clubs this season after Saskatchewan swept the 2025 season series. In their most recent matchup, the Roughriders earned a 29-9 victory as KeeSean Johnson recorded a then-career-high 124 receiving yards.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"OTTAWA \u2014 Mathew Sexton\u2019s punt return touchdown helped swing a back-and-forth contest on Friday night at TD Place…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":779352,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":["post-779351","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\/779351","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=779351"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/779351\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/779352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=779351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=779351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=779351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}