VANCOUVER — The Saskatchewan Roughriders were looking for a bounce back game against the B.C. Lions on Saturday evening in Vancouver and that’s exactly what they got.
The Riders roared out to a 17-1 lead in the first quarter and kept things rolling the majority of the game, going on to a 33-27 victory over the Lions in Canadian Football League action at B.C. Place.
It was a far cry from Saskatchewan’s 24-10 loss to the Calgary Stampeders in their previous game and saw the Green and White move the ball almost at will at times while limiting B.C.’s opportunities to put big points on the board. As one might expect, head coach Corey Mace was more than happy to see that happen.
“Oh man, I thought offensively we were dang efficient all freaking night,” Mace said when asked on the Riders Broadcast Network about his overall impression of the game.
“Big plays on special teams too. We managed to get a turnover. Defensively, I thought that we stood up enough but I thought we bent a little bit too much. I wasn't very pleased with the way we ended that…. but I'm not going to throw any shade on this team. We challenge these guys all week and they challenge each other and it showed out there today.”
After the Stampeders were seemingly able to put up points whenever they wanted in the first half against Saskatchewan, it was the Riders putting together that look this time around. Dohnte Meyers and A.J. Ouellette had touchdowns on the Riders’ first and third drives of the game and a Brett Lauther field goal made it a 16-point lead with 2:37 remaining in the opening quarter. That was all according to plan as Saskatchewan looked to get things going with much more urgency.
“That's all we've been talking about, everybody being able to be the best at every single play, which you're supposed to do, period,” Mace said. “Saying that, I thought the play calling offensively was awesome. I thought Trevor was able to find them. The o-line held up, I think we rushed the ball well, we kept the quarterback upright for the most part. Trevor was back there dialing. It was excellent to see.”
While Harris wasn’t able to crack the 400-yard passing mark for the second straight game, he might as well have, finishing 23-of-30 for 395 yards, three touchdowns and one interception.
Harris lauded offensive coordinator Marc Mueller’s game plan for putting the Riders in situations they could succeed, finding ways to extend drives to keep the pressure on the Lions defence while giving their own defence time to rest. As well as Saskatchewan did in that regard on Saturday night, perfection is always the goal and Harris would have liked to have seen an even better result.
“I thought we were able to do that early, but in the second half after we scored, got it to 33, I wish we could have pressed on the pedal a little bit more and scored a little bit more,” he said. “But we came out with a win at B.C. in a tough environment, so we're pleased.”
One area that was exceptional all night was the offensive line. On top of giving Harris ample time to throw they were opening up holes for the Riders’ rushers, with Ouellete, quarterback Tommy Stevens and running back Ka’Deem Cary racking up 111 yards total on the ground.
“I think they buy into each other and they love each other,” Harris said. “Yoshi [Jermarcus Hardrick] and [Logan] Ferland are the leaders up front. They do a phenomenal job of making sure everybody's on the same page and they're an offensive line through and through. They walk through the facility together like a herd of cattle, they're always together."
“They're what you want in an o-line group because they're mean and nasty on the field, but they're great guys,” Harris continued. “It's obviously big ups to [the team staff] bringing in tremendous people in terms of who we have in this locker room.”
With things going as well as they were on offence, the defence also did their part, limiting James Butler — the CFL’s leading rusher heading into the contest — to 30 yards on nine carries. Canadian quarterback Nathan Rourke had a decent game with 337 yards passing, three majors and an interception, but the Riders came up with a host of big stops when they needed them the most.
“Knowing Rourke, he's a really good quarterback with really good receivers and we wanted to play top down on the receivers and be aggressive,” defensive back Damarcus Fields, who had four tackles and two special teams tackles, said. “I feel like last game, we weren’t as aggressive so that was our game plan.”
The Roughriders were also ready for whatever the B.C. offence threw at them, something Fields felt was part and parcel with their preparation all week.
“They’re the same people that we study and we put on paper, so that's all we banked on,” he said. “Really running what we run and playing to our strengths.”
Saskatchewan returns to action on Friday, July 25 when the Edmonton Elks make their first visit of the season to Mosaic Stadium with kickoff at 7 p.m.
