Roughriders win fourth straight in crazy fashion, CFL just insane

Samuel Eguavoen scores TD for the Roughriders on Saturday.

    Even when the road boos feel like cheers, the Saskatchewan Roughriders have to go through their share of drama to earn victory.

    On Saturday at Investors Group Field in Winnipeg, the Roughriders jumped to a 20-17 halftime lead in unfathomable fashion against the host Blue Bombers in front of a packed crowd of 33,134 spectators. As the teams departed to the dressing rooms for halftime, a vocal number of people in attendance booed the host side off the field, and it was apparent Bombers fans were the ones unloading the boos.

    With 68 seconds remaining in the first half, the Bombers were holding a 17-13 lead and had the ball at the Saskatchewan seven yard line with a first and goal. Bombers starting quarterback Matt Nichols tried to throw an ill-advised underhanded pass upfield, and the ball landed right in the gut of Roughriders linebacker Samuel Eguavoen.

    Eguavoen ran the ball back 103 yards the other way for a Saskatchewan touchdown, which gave the visitors a 20-17 lead. The Roughriders first touchdown of the contest happen to come off a 97-yard interception return by defensive end Willie Jefferson.

    By halftime, Saskatchewan had scored two touchdowns off interception returns that totalled 200 yards. In any football game, that sort of occurrence is unthinkable.

    When a team gets booed off the field by its own fans, it usually feels as good as cheers for the visiting side.

Willie Jefferson scored a touchdown for the Roughriders on Saturday.

    Even with the Bombers fans giving their team the raspberries, the Roughriders weren’t able to win easy. Saskatchewan increased its lead to 26-17 by the end of the third quarter only to have Winnipeg take a 27-26 advantage opening the fourth quarter scoring 10 unanswered points.

    Brett Lauther closed the contest booting his fifth and six field goals of the game to give the Roughriders a 32-27 victory.

    Now riding a four game winning streak, the Roughriders improved to 7-4 to sit with the second best record overall in the CFL, if you go off winning percentage. The Bombers fell to 5-7 having dropped their last four in a row.

    Even when the wins are piling up for the Roughriders, it feels like they are always facing challenges. Saskatchewan’s starting quarterback Zack Collaros was forced to leave the game early in the fourth quarter after taking a big hit from Bombers defensive back Jeff Hecht.

    Collaros, who had found his stride in the current campaign, was placed under concussion protocol. He missed four games earlier this season due to a concussion injury.

    Roughriders star defensive back Ed Gainey went down a short time later with a leg injury.

    If both players miss any significant time, that alone might halt the Roughriders winning streak.

Zach Collaros left Saturday’s game due to injury.

    At the moment, it is too early to tell if either will play this coming Saturday, when the Roughriders host the Ottawa Redblacks (6-5) at 7:30 p.m. at Mosaic Stadium.

    Still, the Roughriders found a way to win namely due to the fact their defence came up with all sorts of big plays. The Roughriders defence forced Nichols and Bombers backup quarterback Chris Streveler to throw a combined five interceptions.

    Jefferson and Eguavoen had sacks to go along with the interceptions they respectively returned for touchdowns. Defensive back Loucheiz Purifoy had nine tackles and two interceptions to aid the Roughriders cause.

    Running back and former University of Auburn Tigers star Tre Mason paced the Roughriders offence carrying the ball 20 times for 117 yards and catching two passes for 13 yards.

    While the Roughriders latest win came via a crazy fashion, the CFL showed on Saturday how insane it can be.

    The Hamilton Tiger-Cats won their third in a row downing the Argonauts in Toronto 36-25. Hamilton improved to 6-5 to sit in a tie for first place in the East Division with the Redblacks. The Argonauts fell to 3-8 with the loss.

    Tigers-Cats starting quarterback Jeremiah Masoli completed 18-of-25 passes for 307 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions. This season, Masoli has passed for 300 or more yards nine times to equal a team record for most 300 yard passing games in one season set in 2013 by Henry Burris.

    In Edmonton, the host Eskimos downed the Calgary Stampeders in a classic CFL shootout 48-42. The Stampeders, who remain first overall in the CFL with a 9-2 mark, committed seven turnovers and still had a chance to win that contest.

HC and GM Chris Jones and the Roughriders have won four straight.

    The Eskimos, who improved to 7-5, led 21-7 at one point in the first quarter and were up 48-28 going into the fourth quarter and almost ended up losing.

    The Stampeders scored two touchdowns in the fourth quarter, and had receiver Juwan Brescacin been able to hold on to a Hail Mary pass on the final play of the fourth quarter, Calgary would have likely escaped with victory depending if the possible ensuing convert was successful.

    Stampeders quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell completed 25-of-46 passes for 491 yards, four touchdowns and three interceptions in that loss. Eskimos quarterback Mike Reilly connected on 30-of-44 passes for 397 yards, three touchdowns and one interception in the win.

    In the CFL, it doesn’t matter what record a team has entering any particular contest. Each team has enough playmakers to pull out victory on any given night.

    That is the enduring aspect that helps to make the CFL great and days like Saturday’s triple header are intriguing to watch.

“Cool cops” want it that way

Remember those #lipsyncchallenge videos from last month? Well our community asked us for one, so we're delivering! Thanks to everyone who made this possible, especially the sworn & civilian staff that volunteered their time https://t.co/Rnj49eaxYq #yxe #CommunityEngagement pic.twitter.com/2Viypz0gP5

— Saskatoon Police (@SaskatoonPolice) September 7, 2018

    I have to give you the reader a big thanks if you are reading this right now after seeing the above tweet.

    The Saskatoon Police Service gave the public a really sweet and fun video here. Down in the United States, police forces down there had been putting together videos on lip sync challenges.

    After receiving requests from some in the community to possibly get involved, the Saskatoon Police Service dropped this video on their Facebook page at 10 a.m. on Friday. It is a lip sync video to the song “I Want It That Way” by the Backstreet Boys.

    Within about two hours, the Facebook post of the video had over 83,000 views. At about 10:30 p.m. on Saturday, the video has piled up over 1.4-million views on Facebook and over 20,000 views on YouTube.

    The video is great because it shows the members of the Saskatoon Police Service in a lighter and humorous mood. Actually, the members of the Saskatoon Police Service are pretty good when it comes to socializing with the public, and the video helps make them feel that much more approachable.

    The YouTube post of the video is below.

Schlenker earns full time NHL referee spot, other notes

Chris Schlenker waves off a goal in the 2016 WHL playoffs.

    Chris Schlenker earned another huge milestone recently in his career as a hockey referee.

    The alum of the WHL’s Regina Pats and Prince Albert Raiders was promoted full time to the NHL ranks as first reported by Scoutingtherefs.com on Aug. 31. Schlenker was brought on as a full-time professional referee to work games in both the NHL and AHL before the start of the 2016-17 season.

    He made his professional debut on Oct. 17, 2015 working an AHL game between the Toronto Marlies and the Albany Devils. On Oct. 24, 2016, Schlenker made his NHL debut in Montreal as the host Canadiens took on the Philadelphia Flyers.

    The 34-year-old product from Medicine Hat, Alta., has worked 59 NHL games since become a full-time professional official. He refereed in the AHL’s 2017 Calder Cup finals.

    During his days as a player, Schlenker, who stands 6-foot-2 and weighs 198 pounds, was a tough defensive defenceman. From 2000 to 2005, he appeared in 284 WHL regular season games split between the Pats and Raiders posting 25 goals, 67 assists and 718 penalty minutes.

    After playing less than a season of professional hockey in Germany, Schlenker joined the Medicine Hat Police Service and became a member of the K9 unit.

    As a member of the police service, Schlenker took up officiating. He quickly worked his way up the hockey ranks and won the Allen Paradice Memorial Trophy as the top official in the WHL following for the 2015-16 season. He worked the WHL finals and the Memorial Cup that season as well.

    At that time, Schlenker completed his fifth season as a hockey referee.

    Now entering his eight season as a referee, Schlenker has built a reputation for being solid at that craft. It wouldn’t be a surprise if he spent a number of seasons working in the NHL ranks.

• The Saskatoon Blades downed the Prince Albert Raiders 4-3 after a tiebreaking shootout in a WHL pre-season match at The Legends Centre in Warman, Sask., on Saturday night. Kirby Dach, Michael Farren and Brad Goethals netted singles for the Blades in regulation, while Spencer Moe, Kody McDonald and Lane Kirk replied with singles for the Raiders in regulation. Goethals and Farren had the only tallies in the tiebreaking shootout. Koen MacInnes made 35 saves over 65 minutes in goal for the Blades (5-0). Donovan Buskey turned away 33 shots in goal for the Raiders (0-2-0-1).
• The University of Saskatchewan Huskies women’s hockey team blanked the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns 5-0 in a neutral site U Sports pre-season tilt at the Fairview Arena in Swift Current, Sask., on Saturday night. Nicole Fry, Kennedy Brown, Bailee Bourassa, Shyan Elias and Leah Bohlken all had singles for the Huskies. Jasey Book and Camryn Drever split the shutout in goal for U of S.
• On Friday night, the U of Saskatchewan Huskies football team improved to 2-0 downing the U of Manitoba Bisons 48-46 in a shootout in Winnipeg. Huskies quarterback Kyle Siemens completed 24-of-35 passes for 306 yards, four touchdowns and one interception. The Bisons fell to 0-2 following the U Sports regular season contest.
• The U of Regina Rams stomped the U of Alberta Golden Bears 51-13 in a U Sports regular season football clash in Edmonton on Friday night. Rams quarterback Noah Picton completed 32-41 passes for 449 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions. The Rams improved to 1-1, while the Golden Bears fell to 0-2.

    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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Roughriders exceed predictions in 2017, best may still come

Duron Carter has made a tonne of huge plays for the Roughriders.

    Remember when it seemed like the Saskatchewan Roughriders 2017 season was appearing to go off the rails?

    Actually, there were two distinct points, when it looked like that was going to happen. Way back on July 1, the Roughriders played their first regular season game at new Mosaic Stadium and dropped a 43-40 double overtime heartbreaker to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers to fall to 0-2.

    Saskatchewan opened the regular season going on the road and falling 17-16 to the Alouettes in Montreal on June 22.
    Having missed the playoffs in 2015 and 2016 going a combined 8-28 over those two campaigns, it seemed like the Roughriders were going to find a way to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

    After pulling their record back to 2-3, the second panic point occurred on Aug. 6, when the Roughriders went to Vancouver and dropped a 30-15 decision to the B.C. Lions to fall to 2-4. Saskatchewan trailed 30-0 in that contest before scoring two late fourth quarter touchdowns.

DB Ed Gainey (#11) hauls in an interception.

    When those two teams met again on Aug. 13 in Regina, the Roughriders rolled to a 41-8 victory before a roaring sellout crowd of 33,350 at their new home park. From that point, the team took off.

    Today, the Roughriders enter their final regular season game at 5 p.m. at Mosaic Stadium sporting a 10-7 record against the visiting Edmonton Eskimos (11-6). The winner will finish third in the CFL’s West Division and third overall in the entire league.

    The majority of pre-season predictions foresaw the Roughriders scraping into the playoffs, if they made the post-season at all playing in a tough West Division. Only those close to the team’s inner circle would have thought that winning 10 games was a possibility.

    Had the Roughriders defeated the Bombers in overtime in Week 2, Saskatchewan would have had a chance to finish second in the West and host a division semifinal contest with a win over Edmonton today.

    Overall, this Roughriders team has been fun to watch.

    The most exciting player has been receiver Duron Carter. The 26-year-old from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, has been one of the team’s colourful characters and has found a strong home of supporters in the Saskatchewan community. Carter and the community have embraced each other.

QB Kevin Glenn played a major role in getting the Roughrider to 10 wins.

    Like his Pro Football Hall of Fame father Cris, Duron can flat out make plays on the field. He has hauled in 73 passes for 1,043 yards and scored eight touchdowns on offence.

    He stepped in at defensive back on the defensive side of the ball and made a memorable start at cornerback against the Stampeders in Calgary on Oct. 20. Carter highlighted Saskatchewan’s 30-7 win returning an early fourth quarter interception 43 yards for a touchdown.

    He also took down Stampeders power back Jerome Messam with a tackle in the backfield for a loss. That tackle might have been as good as any acrobatic catch Carter made all season.

    Carter wasn’t the only receiver that made plays. Naaman Roosevelt broke the 1,000-yard barrier in receiving for the second straight campaign hauling in 75 passes for 1,035 yards and eight touchdowns. Veteran Bakari Grant has set career highs in catches (81), yards (995) and matched his career high in touchdowns (five).

Brendon LaBatte (#57) had an all-star year playing centre and guard. 

    On defence, Ed Gainey has been the showstopper. The 27-year-old defensive back leads the CFL with 10 interceptions to go along with his 44 total tackles. He set a team record with four interceptions in one game in the Aug. 13 blowout of the Lions.

    Defensive end Willie Jefferson has become a force on the edge piling up a career high eight sacks to go along with 44 total tackles.

    At quarterback, ageless veteran Kevin Glenn has been a steady presence and added a key contribution in getting the Roughriders turned around. On the season, the 38-year-old has completed 313 of 458 passes for 3,975 yards, 25 touchdowns and 14 interceptions.

    Brandon Bridge has been strong as well at the pivot position completing 80 of 120 passes for 1,074 yards, nine touchdowns and four interceptions. The 25-year-old product from Toronto, Ont., is showing the Canadian born player can play quarterback in the CFL.

RB Cameron Marshall (#32) celebrates a touchdown run.

    At running back, Cameron Marshall and Trent Richardson are showing the Roughriders have two very capable options at that position.

    Brendon LaBatte proved he is still one of the best offensive linemen in the CFL playing in standout fashion at both centre and guard.

    On special teams, third-year kicker Tyler Crapigna has connected on 36 of 42 field goal attempts and has made all 46 of his conversion attempts.

    Head coach and general manager Chris Jones was once often criticized for getting everything wrong, and now he is a legitimate coach of the year candidate for the league.

    During the team’s training camp in Saskatoon, the Roughriders players carried themselves in a very polite manner. That was a good intangible sign, which showed they had the potential to display the discipline to create success on the field.

    In the early part of the campaign, the Roughriders as a team had to battle to learn how to win. Now sporting an 8-3 mark in their last 11 games, winning has become a habit.

    Today will mark the last chance for the faithful at home to salute the 2017 Roughriders for what has been a fantastic campaign. The best memories from this group might still be coming.

Roughriders DL Tobi Antigha closes in on a quarterback sack.

    It is realistic to think this team could be in the 105^th Grey Cup on Nov. 26 in Ottawa. When the Roughriders are in action throughout the post-season, most people in Saskatchewan will be huddled around their televisions on those Sundays. If anything else in the province is schedule at the same time Roughriders playoff games are going on, those events will be hooped.
    If the Roughriders finish third in the West Division, expect a healthy contingent of supporters to follow the team to Winnipeg, Man., for a clash with the Blue Bombers (12-6) in the West semifinal on Nov. 12.

    Overall interest in the CFL playoffs always increases when the Roughriders make a big playoff run.

    A “November to Remember” could be upon the province where the green and white colour scheme dominates once again.

    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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    If you like what you see here, you might want to donate to the cause to keep independent media like this blog going. Should you choose to help out, feel free to click on the DONATE button in the upper right corner. Thank you for stopping in.