{"id":855116,"date":"2026-08-12T07:30:52","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T07:30:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/855116\/"},"modified":"2026-08-12T07:30:52","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T07:30:52","slug":"saskatchewans-stevens-set-for-saturday-showdown-in-steeltown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/855116\/","title":{"rendered":"Saskatchewan\u2019s Stevens set for Saturday showdown in Steeltown"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Hamilton Tiger-Cats\u2019 next game theme is a perfect match for Tommy Stevens<\/a>.<\/p>\n

WrestleFest is slated for Hamilton Stadium on Saturday \u2014 in conjunction with a CFL matchup between the Tiger-Cats and Saskatchewan Roughriders.<\/p>\n

Stevens has borrowed from the persona of wrestling legend Stone Cold Steve Austin, adding a flourish to a remarkable run of prosperity.<\/p>\n

The second-year Roughriders quarterback\/short-yardage specialist enters Saturday\u2019s contest having rushed for three touchdowns in back-to-back games.<\/p>\n

After the third score during Friday\u2019s 42-20 victory over the Ottawa REDBLACKS<\/a>, he smashed together two water bottles while standing on the home team\u2019s bench at Mosaic Stadium. It was a salute to Austin and his beer-can-crushing routine with the WWE.<\/p>\n

\u201cSomebody tipped me off to the idea last week,\u201d Stevens said after Tuesday\u2019s practice at Mosaic Stadium. \u201cIt kind of hit me in the moment and I thought it would be a good idea to do it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was pretty cool. Brayden (Schager, Roughriders quarterback) was right there and I said, \u2018Watch this!\u2019 Then it happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

Short-yardage situations have been a happening since Stevens joined the Roughriders in 2025.<\/p>\n

Dating back to last year\u2019s Grey Cup, Stevens has rushed for 13 touchdowns in his last nine games. He leads the league with 11 majors this season.<\/p>\n

At this rate, Stevens will soon break the Roughriders\u2019 single-season record for touchdowns by a quarterback. Kerry Joseph<\/a> established the current mark of 13 in 2007, when he was named the CFL\u2019s Most Outstanding Player.<\/p>\n

Stevens is already tied with Kent Austin for the second-best total in franchise history.<\/p>\n

Austin scored his 11th touchdown in the Roughriders\u2019 16th game of the 1992 season. Stevens has reached 11 TDs in only eight games.<\/p>\n

In fact, Stevens has set a team record for most touchdown runs after eight games. He is second All-Time in terms of overall touchdowns at this juncture of a season:<\/p>\n

13 \u2014 Hugh Campbell,<\/a> 1966 (0 TD runs, 13 TD receptions).<\/p>\n

11 \u2014 Tommy Stevens, 2026 (11-0).<\/p>\n

10 \u2014 Ken Carpenter, 1955 (5-5).<\/p>\n

9 \u2014 Hugh Campbell, 1964 (0-9).<\/p>\n

9 \u2014 George Reed, 1971 (9-0).<\/p>\n

9 \u2014 Craig Ellis<\/a>, 1985 (6-3).<\/p>\n

9 \u2014 Wes Cates, 2010 (8-1).<\/p>\n

8 \u2014 Jeff Fairholm, 1989 (0-8).<\/p>\n

8 \u2014 Wes Cates, 2008 (7-1).<\/p>\n

Stevens is on pace to break the Roughriders\u2019 record for TD runs in a season.<\/p>\n

As it stands, he is in a seven-way tie for 16th. With 10 regular-season games remaining, he is one TD shy of moving into a nine-way tie for seventh:<\/p>\n

16 \u2014 George Reed, 1968.<\/p>\n

15 \u2014 George Reed, 1967.<\/p>\n

15 \u2014 Wes Cates, 2010.<\/p>\n

14 \u2014 Craig Ellis, 1985.<\/p>\n

13 \u2014 George Reed, 1972.<\/p>\n

13 \u2014 Kerry Joseph, 2007.<\/p>\n

12 \u2014 Ken Carpenter, 1955.<\/p>\n

12 \u2014 George Reed, 1965.<\/p>\n

12 \u2014 George Reed, 1969.<\/p>\n

12 \u2014 George Reed, 1971.<\/p>\n

12 \u2014 George Reed, 1973.<\/p>\n

12 \u2014 Bobby Johnson, 1986.<\/p>\n

12 \u2014 Wes Cates, 2008.<\/p>\n

12 \u2014 Kory Sheets, 2013.<\/p>\n

12 \u2014 William Powell, 2019.<\/p>\n

11 \u2014 George Reed, 1975.<\/p>\n

11 \u2014 Milson Jones, 1988.<\/p>\n

11 \u2014 Milson Jones, 1990.<\/p>\n

11 \u2014 Kent Austin, 1992.<\/p>\n

11 \u2014 Chris Szarka, 2003.<\/p>\n

11 \u2014 Kory Sheets, 2012.<\/p>\n

11 \u2014 Tommy Stevens, 2026.<\/p>\n

Not only that, Stevens is steadily approaching the Roughriders\u2019 single-season record for TDs \u2014 18, by Carpenter in 1955.<\/p>\n

EXTRA POINTS<\/p>\n

\u2022 Returner\/receiver James Letcher Jr. (forearm) and defensive lineman Ali Saad (calf) were limited participants in Tuesday\u2019s practice. Both players have missed the past five games. Offensive linemen Zack Fry (knee) and Daniel Johnson (illness) did not practise on Tuesday. Fry has missed the past two games. Johnson was a late scratch for Friday\u2019s game versus Ottawa. Erik Andersen started in his place at left guard.<\/p>\n

\u2022 The Roughriders, with Joshua Bell in his first season as the Defensive Co-ordinator<\/a>, are allowing a league-best 26.9 points per game.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Saskatchewan has been assessed a league-low 50.8 penalty yards per game.<\/p>\n

\u2022 KeeSean Johnson<\/a> leads the league in second-down receptions (23). He was also first overall last season, with 39.<\/p>\n

\u2022 The Roughriders\u2019 next two games are on the road. After playing Hamilton, the Roughriders will meet the B.C. Lions in Vancouver on Aug. 23.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Saskatchewan\u2019s next home game is on Aug. 29 against the Toronto Argonauts. Starting with that contest, five of the Roughriders\u2019 last eight regular-season games are at home. Tickets are AVAILABLE HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Hamilton Tiger-Cats\u2019 next game theme is a perfect match for Tommy Stevens. WrestleFest is slated for Hamilton…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":855117,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":["post-855116","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\/855116","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=855116"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/855116\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/855117"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=855116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=855116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=855116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}