REGINA — After pulling a couple of games out of the fire to start the Canadian Football League season, the Saskatchewan Roughriders finally ran into a blaze they couldn’t control on Friday night at Mosaic Stadium.
The Toronto Argonauts came up with big plays at the perfect time, took advantage of a couple incredibly untimely Saskatchewan turnovers and had an all-around outstanding showing from quarterback Chad Kelly on their way to a 40-34 victory.
Saskatchewan falls to 2-1 and drop into second place in the West Division behind the unbeaten Edmonton Elks, while Toronto improves to 2-1 and are in a three-way tie with Montreal and Hamilton for first in the East.
It didn’t take long for Toronto to make a statement, as a 61-yard run by Samuel Hicks on the very first offensive play set the tone for the game. The Argos would build a 10-0 lead in the first quarter — including a 68-yard punt return touchdown by Janarion Grant — and get an end zone interception as a punctuation mark on Saskatchewan’s slow start.
“I think obviously early we didn't take care of the things that we talked about against an explosive team in Toronto, be it offence or the return game," head coach Corey Mace said on the Rider Broadcast Network after the contest. “You saw their explosiveness early in both realms and we were always trying to play catch up. Then when we needed one side of the ball to stand up, we couldn't and vice versa. So not complimentary and a lot of mistakes, man.”
Thing is, for as rough as things went overall, Saskatchewan still managed to stay in the game throughout. That was once again in no small part to the play of quarterback Trevor Harris, who completed 34 of 43 passes for 409 yards and two touchdowns, with the early pick the first and only he’s thrown this season.
Saskatchewan did get things going in the second quarter with majors from KeeSean Johnson and Quali Conley — the first of his career in his first CFL game — but as was the case all game, Toronto had an answer.
This time, it was a two-play, 31-second drive that ended in a Tyler Kahmann touchdown on the final play of the first half, the second time in as many games Saskatchewan had given up a huge, demoralizing play to close out the first 30 minutes.
“I think it's about being detail oriented to doing our job,” Mace said of Toronto’s ability to respond. “They're the ones to start fast this time, but then what's the reaction for us? Those plays all came down to details and a lack of attention and whether that's a player or it's us as coaches, we got to do a better job coaching it. So it's inward. We all got to look at the tape and get better. Players, coaches — everybody.”
Toronto went up 30-17 midway through the third quarter on a major from Kelly, and while that could have been the first nail in the coffin for Saskatchewan, the Riders battled back. Tommy Stevens finished off a 10-play, 90-yard drive to make it a 30-24 Toronto lead late in the third quarter and a touchdown from Rosetown product Daniel Wiebe with 9:37 left in the game got Saskatchewan within a two 33-31.
“I will say I'm super proud of the boys for battling all the way to the dang end,” Mace said. “We’ve got to clean it up, no doubt.”
There were some positives for Saskatchewan — when Wiebe came in midway through the contest after an injury to Sam Emilus, he’d go on to have a solid outing with a pair of catches for 48 yards and the touchdown as well as a couple of decent returns. Slotback D’Sean Mimbs was a force as a blocker and had a couple of catches for 13 yards, and Jaxon Ford had a solid showing at safety, coming up with five tackles.
“Each of those guys made some big plays for us,” Mace said. “I know they worked their tails off and they’ve proven that they can play at this level. So whether it's next week or down the line, we're going to need these guys. So I'm proud of them. They had a good showing.”
KeeSean Johnson ended up leading the offence with 10 catches for 112 yards and the aforementioned touchdown, and seeing the general success of the offence had him confident the team will be able to turn things around quickly.
“The feeling is the same,” he said of how the team will respond “Hard work, coming to the building with the same attitude as we had the first two weeks. Coming in with the same attitude, same work ethic and get back to work.”
The Roughriders are back in action on Friday, July 3 when they travel to Ottawa to face the Redblacks.
