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| Duron Carter (#89) defends a pass for the Roughriders. |
With 8:54 remaining in the fourth quarter of Thursday’s CFL
regular season clash at Mosaic Stadium, kicker Brett Lauther booted a 41-yard
field goal to give the host Saskatchewan Roughriders a 12-10 lead over the
Hamilton Tiger-Cats. The scoreboard operator accidently put the three points up
on Hamilton’s side of the ledger, and the Tiger-Cats were listed as having a
13-9 edge.
Some of the 30,594 spectators in attendance had a bit of a
short freak out. The mistake was spotted and the scoreboard was eventually
corrected in about 30 seconds of real time listing Saskatchewan as holding a
12-10 edge.
A little over three minutes later, the Tigers-Cats went back
in front 13-12, when Hamilton kicker Lirim Hajrullahu nailed a 39-yard field
goal.
The Roughriders went back out in front 18-13 with 1:29
remaining in the fourth quarter, when running back Marcus Thigpen ran home a
touchdown from 34 yards out to cap a four-play drive that covered 77 yards. The
ensuing two-point conversion failed after the seventh lead change in the
contest.
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| Roughrider receiver Naaman Roosevelt (#82) tries to avoid tacklers. |
While the win wasn’t a work of art, the Roughriders and
their fans will gladly take it. The victory helped give relief from the sting
of a confidence deflating two-game losing skid.
Before the win over the Tiger-Cats, the Roughriders were
crushed 40-17 on June 21 to the Redblacks in Ottawa. Saskatchewan followed that
performance up with a 23-17 setback at Mosaic Stadium to the Montreal
Alouettes, who had lost 13 straight regular season games heading into that
contest.
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| QB Jeremiah Masoli (#8) had 333 passing yards for the Tiger-Cats. |
The Roughriders are currently forced to work through key
injuries to starting quarterback Zach Collaros and defensive back Nick
Marshall. The play of their offensive line had been suspect.
After two deflating losses, most Saskatchewan fans didn’t
think their Roughriders could a Tiger-Cats squad that was coming off two
straight impressive wins.
Even in desperate times, over 30,000 came out to support the
Roughriders outside of a sprinkling of Hamilton supporters. There wasn’t much
for the home side to cheer about over the first 20 minutes as Hamilton slowly
built a 4-0 lead.
With 5:22 remaining in the second quarter, it appeared
Roughriders starting quarterback Brandon Bridge scored on a 15-yard touchdown
run.
On video review, it was ruled he fumbled before crossing the goal-line
and the Tiger-Cats recovered the ball in the end zone to end the scoring
threat.
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| The Roughriders’ special teams takes down Tiger-Cats KR Brandon Banks. |
For fans in attendance, Bridge’s fumble seemed like par for
the course looking back at the Roughriders two previous games.
On the Tiger-Cats ensuing possession, Roughriders defensive
lineman Charleston Hughes created a huge spark knocking the ball high into the
air out of the hands of Tiger-Cats quarterback Jeremiah Masoli. Hughes grabbed
the ball in the air and raced 57 yards downfield for a defensive touchdown to
give Saskatchewan a 6-4 lead.
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| Charleston Hughes had a big game on Thursday night for the Roughriders. |
Hajrullahu kicked a 30-yard field goal on the last play of
the first half to give the Tiger-Cats a 7-6 edge at halftime.
Despite doing very little on offence, the Roughriders had a
legitimate chance to win.
The teams traded field goals in the third quarter to allow
Hamilton to exit the frame with a 10-9 edge. That set the stage for the
dramatics in the fourth quarter.
From a fan perspective, the Roughriders have a tendency to
lose games they shouldn’t lose but seem to manage to win games they shouldn’t
win.
Masoli completed 23 of 43 passes for 333 yards to mark the
ninth straight regular season game he surpassed 300 passing yards to equal a
CFL record held by Sam Etcheverry and Kent Austin. Etcheverry achieved his
streak in 1956 with the Alouettes, while Austin accomplished the same feat in
1991 with the Roughriders.
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| Christion Jones (#22) returns a kick for the Roughriders. |
On the Saskatchewan side offensively, no one had an
outstanding night.
The Roughriders offensive really only caught fire for one series, and that was on the 77-yard march that resulted in the winning touchdown late in the fourth quarter.
The Roughriders offensive really only caught fire for one series, and that was on the 77-yard march that resulted in the winning touchdown late in the fourth quarter.
That series included an acrobatic 29-yard catch from
receiver Joshua Stanford and Thigpen’s 34-yard touchdown run.
When the game ended, Roughriders fans were elated their team
won, but that elation seemed followed by a stunned query of, “Did we actually
win that game?”
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| Members of Rider Nation celebrate the Roughrider victory. |
The Roughriders now have ample time to prepare for their
next game on July 19, when they travel to Hamilton to face the Tiger-Cats once
again.
Back in the Express with NCAA champ
I was back in the pages of the Saskatoon Express this week
with a story on National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I lacrosse
champion in Brendan Rooney.
Rooney is a Saskatoon product who just completed his third
season playing for the Yale University Bulldogs lacrosse team. He scored a goal
for Yale, when they down the Duke University Blue Devils 13-11 in the NCAA
lacrosse championship game on May 28 in Foxboro, Mass.
A forward with the Yale lacrosse team, Rooney majors in
molecular bio-physics and biochemistry in the classroom and aims to get into
Yale’s medical school. He has a not so ordinary summer job too.
The story on Rooney can be found by clicking right here.
If you have any
comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them
to stankssports@gmail.com.
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