Riders overcome 18 penalties for 178 yards to defeat reigning Grey Cup champions
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The Saskatchewan Roughriders have every reason to be winless this CFL season.
Injuries, a tough road schedule, repeatedly falling behind 7-0, too many penalties and a reliable kicker who no longer seems reliable. All good excuses for a 0-3 record.
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Yet the Roughriders are undefeated. Playing exclusively against winless East teams, the Roughriders improved to 3-0 by overcoming another fourth-quarter wobble and scoring an improbable, game-winning touchdown on Mario Alford’s 99-yard, last-second kickoff return.
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And despite being penalized 18 times for 178 yards, Saskatchewan defeated the reigning Grey Cup-champion Toronto Argonauts 39-32 on Friday.
“We could definitely do better,” fourth-year Roughriders linebacker A.J. Allen, who recorded his first quarterback sack against Grey Cup MVP Nick Arbuckle, said during a post-game interview.
“But there’s always room for improvement. And we won the game.”
It was the third straight time Saskatchewan’s defence surrendered the game’s first touchdown. The Riders were also playing a second road game in six days while missing injured receivers Kian Schaffer-Baker and Sam Emilus, offensive linemen Sean McEwen and Payton Collins and linebacker C.J. Avery.
While Allen again replaced Avery on a defence that stopped Toronto’s offence three times on goal-to-go situations in the second quarter, receiver Dohnte Meyers stepped up offensively with two touchdowns on four catches for 125 yards.
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Running behind a pieced-together offensive line that allowed only one sack, A.J. Ouellette had 91 yards and a touchdown on 17 carries, plus unstoppable short-yardage quarterback Tommy Stevens added a touchdown and 30 yards on six carries.
It was a vicious contest, sparked by a low, illegal-block penalty against Riders receiver Dhel Duncan-Busby that knocked Argos linebacker Kenneth George Jr. out of the game.
The play wasn’t initially penalized, but the Command Centre intervened to impose a 10-yarder in a game that eventually saw 29 penalties assessed for 307 yards. One play later, Argos defensive lineman Jordan Williams was penalized for a dirty hit on Riders QB Trevor Harris.
“It was a disaster,” said Riders head coach Corey Mace. “In this league you really make it tough to win when you’re giving away free yards.
“We obviously have to get better at that. But to be able to come out here against the defending Grey Cup champions and Grey Cup MVP and walk out with a win on a short week, we feel good about that.”
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Argos head coach Ryan Dinwiddie was so dismayed with his team’s performance that he vowed “heads are rolling.”
Said Dinwiddie: “We had more penalty yards than our freaking offence. And they all were selfish ones!
“They were chirping all game. Fine. We talk with our pads. We got involved in the chirping game and it cost us.”
Dinwiddie was especially upset that his kickoff-coverage team was missing a player during Alford’s decisive return.
Saskatchewan’s penalties were equally horrendous, ranging from defensive end Shane Ray repeatedly going offside to an impossible-to-stop head shot inflicted on Arbuckle by defensive tackle Mike Rose.
But it was a missed 32-yard field goal that nearly sunk the Roughriders.
An 82-per-cent kicker throughout his eight-year career, Brett Lauther missed a fourth field goal in eight tries this season. Instead of putting the Roughriders comfortably ahead 34-24, Lauther’s accidental single with two minutes remaining gave the visitors an eight-point lead that was erased by an Argos touchdown and two-point convert. Overtime loomed.
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TSN’s cameras caught an interesting, read-into-it-what-you-will glare after the miss between the kicker and punter Joe Couch, who is in his first season as Lauther’s holder. During practices last week, practice-roster punter James Evans spent extra time fielding balls from long-snapper Jorgen Hus.
Mace reiterated his support for Lauther, as he did after the kicker missed three field goals and a convert in a 28-23 victory over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats .
“If we didn’t score (on Alford’s kickoff return) we would have thrown Brett out there to win us the game,” said Mace.
“It’s the utmost trust and faith in the guy, we’re not faltering with that. That’s our guy and he’ll continue to be our guy.”
Mace never lost faith in Alford either, even though the veteran game-breaker seemed too easily steered towards running out of bounds last season. The head coach repeatedly said, “We know what Mario can do” while rookie returner Drae McCray impressed during the pre-season.
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Alford is having a stellar season. The Riders believe in Lauther. The backups step up. Mace, who doubles as defensive co-ordinator, doesn’t alter his zone-heavy strategies despite surrendering early touchdowns. Faith evidently helps a team become 3-0.
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