REGINA — Touchdown Tommy Nield is going to the Grey Cup again — and this time he’s taking the Saskatchewan Roughriders with him.
Nield, a two-time Grey Cup winner with the Toronto Argonauts, caught a three-yard touchdown pass from Riders quarterback Trevor Harris with 11 seconds left in the fourth quarter to give Saskatchewan a 24-21 victory over the B.C. Lions in the West Division final Saturday, sending the Riders to the 2025 Grey Cup.
The Riders will face the Montreal Alouettes in the Grey Cup in Winnipeg on Nov. 16. The Alouettes advanced to the championship game with a 19-16 win over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in the East Division final earlier on Saturday.
Trailing 21-17 with 1:03 left in the fourth quarter, the Riders drove 74 yards in seven plays to score the game-winning touchdown. Neild ran a quick slant route into the end zone from the left side of the formation and Harris snapped a quick pass into a tight window for the completion.
Nield, who signed with the Riders in the off-season after four seasons with the Argos, was still trying to comprehend the catch after the game.
“You can’t really put it into words. It’s just a super exciting moment, thankful to be put in that position, and that’s a play you dream about making, and I’m just grateful to make a play for my team,” said Nield.
“It honestly wasn’t the greatest look for that play, so I knew Trevor was going to put it into the body, a bang-bang type of catch. It was going to be like a body, bang, bang, type of catch. He put it on the money and I’m just happy that I made the play.”
While Nield was confident he made the catch, the touchdown was reviewed by the CFL’s Command Centre. After a lengthy review, the reception was confirmed.
“I knew I caught it the whole time. Then I’m seeing the review, and I’m like, ‘Is there something they saw?’ because you never know what’s going to happen there. I was just sitting there waiting, making sure I didn’t do all that celebrating for it to get turned over,” said Nield.
Nield’s touchdown capped a wild finish which saw Saskatchewan head coach Corey Mace decide twice against gambling on third down in the final three minutes. The first decision came with the Lions leading 21-14 and the Riders facing a third-and-goal situation on the B.C. five-yard line. Mace chose to kick a field goal to cut the deficit to 21-17 with 2:42 remaining.
Mace said it was a tough decision to take the points.
“Very close. I feel like last year, I probably just would have said, ‘F it, let’s do it.’ But to take the points, just knowing what we’re capable of doing, to be able to make sure that we’re taking points rather than if we didn’t get it, and then we’ve got to do the same thing just to tie the game.
“It was just faith in the guys. That’s all it came down to. I thought about it for sure, but it was a pretty easy decision,” said Mace.
“I’ve made aggressive decisions before for this team and it hadn’t worked out for us in games prior. And while I understand (the fans’ frustration), I totally get it. Just have faith. But I get it, I totally get it, but I think you still love us.”
What was Harris thinking about the decision?
“Nothing. I trust Corey Mace. He knows what he’s doing. As you guys all saw, I’m sure that there’s people at home going, ‘What are you doing?’ And now they’re like, ‘Mace is the man,’” said Harris.
The second decision came with 1:42 left and the Riders in a third-and-10 situation on their own 36-yard line. Rather than gambling, Mace decided to punt and put his faith in his defence getting the ball back.
The football gods smiled on Mace and the Riders because that’s exactly what happened.
The Riders forced the Lions into a two-and-out after A.J. Allen sacked quarterback Nathan Rourke on a second-and-three play. The ensuing punt gave the ball back to the Riders with 1:10 remaining. Harris knew that was enough time for a scoring drive.
“I looked at the clock and thought in the CFL this is plenty of time. Typically, when you see an NFL game or college game down in the United States, it’s like, ‘Oh, man, no, it’s not a lot of time.’
“Here, it’s plenty of time for us to get down there so we just kind of meticulously drove the ball down the field,” said Harris, who finished the game 26 of 38 passing for 305 yards and two touchdowns.
For Rourke, B.C.’s final offensive play was a missed opportunity to put the Lions in position to seal the victory.
“It looked like they were heavy in the box, expecting some kind of run. I appreciated the confidence from (head coach) Buck (Pierce) for putting the ball in my hands and seeing what happens,” said Rourke.
“That’s probably going to be the play that I’ll be thinking about the most, just wishing that I would have done something with it. Obviously, you want the ball in your hands at that time, and I just didn’t make a play so that’s on me.”
Rourke, who is the West Division finalist for the CFL’s Most Outstanding Player, completed 20 of 30 passes for 290 yards with one touchdown and one interception. He also scored two rushing touchdowns.
Defensive back T.J. Lee felt Saskatchewan’s last drive just got away from the Lions.
“The final drive was hurry-up tempo. They caught us in a defensive package, and then they just kept running plays and hurrying up and kept completing the ball,” said Lee.
“As a veteran, I wish I would’ve have done something different. I wish I could’ve have took it upon myself to call a timeout or something, just to help reset things for us. But we stayed playing. We were hoping to make a play, and they made the play.”
Running back A.J. Ouellette had an impressive game for the Riders, who will be returning to the Grey Cup for the first time since 2013 when they defeated the Tiger-Cats 45-35. Ouellette gained 113 yards rushing on 17 carries.
Kian Schaffer-Baker also had a touchdown catch for the Riders while Brett Lauther kicked three field goals.
Keon Hatcher caught a 19-yard scoring pass for the Lions.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2025.
Jeff DeDekker, The Canadian Press
