{"id":83508,"date":"2025-08-20T10:57:21","date_gmt":"2025-08-20T10:57:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/83508\/"},"modified":"2025-08-20T10:57:21","modified_gmt":"2025-08-20T10:57:21","slug":"riders-flatten-ticats-off-to-best-start-since-2013-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/83508\/","title":{"rendered":"Riders flatten Ticats, off to best start since 2013"},"content":{"rendered":"

Meanwhile, the Riders\u2019 defence pummelled Hamilton starter Bo Levi Mitchell<\/a>, sacking the pivot six times. Micah Johnson had two sacks in the game while Shane Ray, A.J. Allen, Mike Rose, and Caleb Sanders all added one of their own.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"\/<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s rolling right now. We\u2019re putting a lot of work in, and the vibe in the room is incredible. The guys in the room really love each other and we are playing for each other,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cThere are a lot of good things going on in the room right now.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s always fun when you get to the quarterback. I tell people year in and year out to not write me off. I still feel good and feel I can produce at a high, high level. I\u2019m just excited that it\u2019s coming together,\u201d Johnson said.<\/p>\n

The defence also forced two interceptions \u2014 one by Tevaughn Campbell and by the reigning Most Outstanding Defensive Player, Rolan Milligan. Saskatchewan also recovered a fumble by Mitchell <\/p>\n

Mitchell finished with 201 yards and the two interceptions. He was replaced late in the fourth quarter by Taylor Powell, who completed one of two passes for five yards.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were just locked in. That was the message all week \u2014 we have to be locked in after the bye and just be ready to go. We knew who was coming here,\u201d Milligan said.<\/p>\n

The Riders\u2019 defence hasn\u2019t surrendered a touchdown in the past eight quarters.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think guys\u2019 confidence is through the roof and coach kind of brought the word conviction in a few weeks back and I think that really hit home,\u201d Johnson said.<\/p>\n

Three different receivers caught touchdown passes in front of the 33,350 fans at the game. Dohnte Meyers, Tommy Nield and Joe Robustelli hauled in scores for the Riders.<\/p>\n

Once again, kicker Brett Lauther struggled in the game. He missed three of his five field goal attempts but one of his makes was from 59 yards out as time expired in the first half.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of fans and players and people in this organization definitely deserve a lot better,\u201d said Lauther, who is only hitting kicks at a 66.7 per cent rate this season. \u201cI\u2019m trying everything I can and just not getting the results. It\u2019s been a difficult year personally but just happy for the team and how good the guys are playing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are playing right now basically without a kicker so that\u2019s how good this team is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the struggles, Mace still has a lot of faith in the veteran kicker.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has been tough for him, but in the same breath, he bangs a 59-yarder right before half and that was huge for us to get those three points,\u201d Mace said. \u201cThat was one of the plays of the game for Brett to make that kick. He has not had the year he has wanted to have but in the same breath, he has done some incredible things for this football team.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Ticats did get out to an early lead in the game, with the Hamilton offence able to get deep into Riders\u2019 territory on the first two drives. But rather than gamble on third downs, Hamilton coach Scott Milanovich elected to take the points with kicker Marc Liegghio connecting on both attempts.<\/p>\n

After Lauther missed is first field goal attempt, it did go through the end zone for a single point.<\/p>\n

In the second quarter, the Riders took over the game with Harris tossing two touchdowns \u2014 one a 58-yarder to Meyers and then followed up with a 26-yarder to Nield.<\/p>\n

Saskatchewan added to the lead in the third quarter, with Harris connecting with Robustelli for a touchdown and another Lauther single on a missed field goal.<\/p>\n

Liegghio and Lauther both added field goals in the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n

The Riders will head to Calgary to take on the Stampeders (6-3) next Saturday. Calgary is the only team who have beaten the Riders this season.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey came into our house and they whooped us. Kudos to them so we will just try to return it,\u201d Milligan said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Meanwhile, the Riders\u2019 defence pummelled Hamilton starter Bo Levi Mitchell, sacking the pivot six times. Micah Johnson had…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":83509,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":["post-83508","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\/83508","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=83508"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83508\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/83509"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}