It took a little longer than the Saskatchewan Roughriders would have liked, but, once they got things rolling, it was all systems go against the Ottawa Redblacks on Friday night.
The Riders scrapped their way to a 13-6 lead in the first half but poured on 29 points after the break — including 21 in the fourth quarter — and went on to a 42-20 victory in CFL action at Mosaic Stadium.
It was an impressive showing for Saskatchewan, who saw themselves improve to 6-2 and move into a tie for first place in the West Division with Edmonton despite dealing with a rash of injuries.
“We had a lot of guys step up, man,” Saskatchewan head coach Corey Mace said on the Rider Broadcast Network postgame show. “In this room, in this building, we have nothing but faith, we see the work every day. We just want to go out and execute. That's it.”
Tommy Stevens recorded a trio of short-range touchdowns for the second-straight game while Dylan Djete scored his first career CFL touchdown and KeeSean Johnson added their other major. Stevens now leads the CFL in touchdowns with 11.
With so many players missing on both sides of the ball, Saskatchewan knew they were going to need players to step up, and that’s exactly what happened.
Johnson made his veteran presence felt with 11 catches for 133 yards while rookie Johnny Johnson III had seven catches for 117 yards. Then there were D’Sean Mimbs and Dylan Djete, who racked up 84 and 53 yards respectively.
“Ultimately, we had some guys getting opportunities tonight that haven't had opportunities throughout the season and they want to put their best foot forward because they know the expectation,” Mace said. “They know that we ain't lowering any damn bars around here. So we're excited to get out there and prove to everybody that the Saskatchewan Roughriders are a football team. It's not necessarily about individuals.”
There wasn’t much question that the Riders were going to lean on KeeSean given his experience, and he did what he could to make sure his receiver teammates were just as ready as he was for the challenge.
“I just try to bleed the confidence into them and let them know everybody can make a play no matter who it is and I feel confident in every last one of you,” he said of how he tried to get the rookies in the right mindset. “They have confidence in themselves because they do it at practice every day versus our starting defence… and we have confidence in everybody in our room because we hold ourselves to a high standard.”
It certainly didn’t hurt that quarterback Trevor Harris had another monster game in what has become almost a regular performance for the 40-year-old pivot. All told, he completed 30-of-38 passes for 401 yards, two touchdowns and an interception.
There was also a special moment early in the first quarter as Harris became the 12th player in CFL history to cross 40,000 yards career passing.
On the other side of the ball, Saskatchewan once again shone, holding Ottawa to only 12 yards rushing. The Redblacks passing attack was much better, with Jake Maier throwing for 353 yards, but the Riders were able get the job done more often than not, again despite a ton of key injuries.
All that led to a concern that the Riders could fall into a trap game, but, once they found their stride, it didn’t take long for those concerns to melt away.
“We talked about that this week and it's professional football,” Mace said. “I can't speak to why they can't get in the win column, but they have a championship pedigree on their coaching staff. They have players that won championships. So you got to respect that and we just got to focus on being the best version of us.”
The Roughriders are now off until next Saturday when they travel to Hamilton fo face the Tiger-Cats.
