If Mathew Sexton has anything to say about it, his best is very much still yet to come, even after making an impression Monday in his first-ever Canadian football league preseason game.
A week into his tenure with the Saskatchewan Roughriders, the 28-year-old American receiver caught one pass from quarterback Jack Coan and two each from Tommy Stevens and Brayden Schager en route to a team-high 78 yards as the Riders fell 20-15 to the Calgary Stampeders in the 2026 CFL preseason opener for both clubs.
Most notably, facing first down and 20 yards to go after a penalty late in the third quarter, Schager connected with Sexton on a 24-yard pass for a first down that played a key role in setting up Jonathan Kim’s second field goal of the day, which brought the Riders to within 11 points after Calgary staked out a 20-6 lead through three quarters.
"I’ve got to get my nose in that playbook a little bit more," Sexton told the Riders' radio colour commentator Luc Mullinder after the game. "I had some mistakes for sure that I already know of. Being a pro for as long as I have, you already kind of know when you make a mistake, it's like, ah I know that's coming up. But, a lot of stuff man. That was nowhere near a perfect game by any means, so go back to the drawing board and figure everything out."
Kim also hit a 45-yard field goal in the first quarter while Alex Hale was 1-for-2 on his own attempts, making a second-quarter kick from 28 yards and missing a 56-yarder in the fourth quarter.
Schager meanwhile finished the game as both the leading passer for either team in just over one quarter of work. The University of Hawaii alum entered the game with just under two minutes to play in the third quarter and completed 10 of his 18 throws for 139 yards while also rushing five times for 41 yards, including a 20-yard touchdown in the final minute of the game.
Coan started the game for Saskatchewan and played the majority of the first half, finishing 9-of-15 for 98 yards. He was also intercepted once, by veteran Calgary linebacker Kyle Wilson, on a tipped pass attempt that was intended for running back Mario Anderson Jr. over the middle after pass protection broke down early.
Also used in short-yardage situations, Stevens played most of the third quarter under centre going 2-for-4 for 11 yards passing and rushing twice for five yards before giving way to Schager.
Schager also targeted receiver Shemar McBean five times, completing three passes, one of which was called back on a penalty. McBean, who played collegiately at UBC, was the Riders’ seventh-round draft pick in the 2026 Canadian draft and officially finished with two catches for 37 yards.
Calgary, which used four quarterbacks Monday, opened the scoring in the first quarter on a 70-yard passing play from Vernon Adams Jr. to James Philpot. Adams was intercepted on another deep ball the previous series when he tried to find Vyshonne Janusas at Saskatchewan’s goal line from 42 yards out. Instead he found fifth-year Roughriders defensive back Nelson Lokombo who made a diving grab to create the turnover.
"You just wanted to see them competing at a high level," Roughriders head coach Corey Mace told Mullinder post-game. "The game plan obviously is gonna be a little more simplified so you want to see ‘em play fast. I thought the effort was good. We just missed on some detail stuff. We started off pretty good on defence with the pick, and then we kind of busted the coverage there. So again just stuff like that, small details. We got shortchanged on a couple drives."
Late in the game, Mace elected to try and convert a third-and-10 situation (successfully) as well as a third-and-nine (unsuccessfully).
"I gambled a little bit, too, just to see if we can do something with our guys and it didn't work out for us," he continued. "So everybody can get better, man, myself included, but shoot we just gotta keep pushing forward, got another game next week."
Backup QB Josh Love scored Calgary’s other touchdown on a one-yard rush late in the second quarter.
Dawson Hodge and Jude McAtamney kicked field goals of 43 and 37 yards respectively to round out the Stampeders’ scoring, while McAtamney missed on two others including a 63-yard attempt near the end of the first half.
On the other side of the ball Roughriders defensive back JuJu Hughes had a game-high six defensive tackles and added another on special teams.
"I wanted to make even more plays than I did personally, but I just wanted to make the plays that came to me, do my job for the team … show my talents of what I'm capable of, and that's pretty much it," he told Mullinder after the game.
The Roughriders will close out their preseason schedule Saturday at Saskatoon’s Griffiths Stadium when they host the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
