Riders Dominate Ti-Cats 37-0

It took the Saskatchewan Roughriders until Labour Day last season to pick up their fourth win.  After improving to 3-0 this season, the Riders made no mistakes going for win number 4, as they dominated the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in a 37-0 shutout at Mosaic Stadium.

“Four doesn't grant us anything, it's just another win,” said head coach Corey Chamblin after his team remained the only undefeated team in the Canadian Football League.  “We have to make sure that we continue each week to go 1-0 and just stack them up.  4-0 is a good thing, but it just means every week we've had a chance to enjoy ourselves.”

Of the Riders' four wins this season, Sunday's was without a doubt the most dominant, as Saskatchewan controlled all three aspects of the game in a dismantling of the Ti-Cats.

“It was a team performance,” said Chamblin.  “As long as the defence doesn't start depending on the offence to score and the offence doesn't start depending on the defence to shutout, we'll continue to win and have a good team.”

The Riders started slow on offence in the game, but they started to move the ball near the end of the first quarter.  Chris Milo got them on the board with a chip shot 13-yard field goal for a 3-0 lead early in the second quarter.

Hamilton looked like they were moving the ball on the ensuing possession, but Henry Burris' deep pass to Greg Ellingson held up in the wind for Craig Butler to pick it off and end any momentum shift.  The Riders took the ball down the field for a 47-yard field goal by Milo to make it 6-0.

After another two-and-out by Hamilton, the Riders capitalized with quarterback Darian Durant going 4-for-4 on a drive that ended with a 28-yard touchdown pass to Rob Bagg, who grabbed it with his finger tips in the end zone. 

Bagg finished the day with a game-high five catches for 125 yards and two touchdowns – he added a 60-yard score in the fourth quarter that put the game away.  He said it was a nice feeling to come up big for the team.

“I've feel like I've been getting better every week and that's what I've tried to do,” said Bagg after the game.  “People think I've lost a step than keep coming up because we're going to keep going deep.”

“I'm so happy for Rob to be able to bounce back after all the trials and tribulations he's been through,” added Durant.  “To have a game like this at home is big, so I'm so proud of him and he's one of my good friends, so I'm happy for him.”

Milo tacked on another field goal at the end of half to make it 16-0 for Saskatchewan at the break.

Late in the third quarter, the Riders started to move the ball again and had a drive kept alive by two Hamilton penalties and clutch second-and-16 catch by slotback Geroy Simon that went for 32 yards – he would finish with 2 catches for 38 yards in the win.  The drive was capped off by a eight-yard touchdown pass by Durant to offensive lineman Dan Clark.

The touchdown was Clark's first ever at any level of football.  “It was a great experience,” he said on catching the touchdown.  “As soon as they called my number, I was just don't drop the ball, don't fall, don't embarrass, just catch the ball and celebrate with my boys.”

“We had that play in the archives, we've been saving it ready to run and we've been practicing it for weeks, so great call by coach Cortez,” said Durant.

That play really sparked the Riders finish.  Their next possession lasted just one play as Durant hit Bagg for his 60-yard touchdown and then capped off the win on their very next possession with a 28-yard strike to Weston Dressler, who was all alone in the back of the end zone.

Running back Kory Sheets did the rest of the work, closing out the game with 15 carries for 94 yards in the second, including six on the final drive of the game.  Hamilton focused on the league's leading rusher early in the game, holding him to 36 yards on nine carries in the first half.

“They did some good things on first down, run blitz-wise, to slow our running game,” explained Durant.  “Coach Cortez did a great job of calling play action and getting guys in the flats because they were keying on Kory.  That's the thing that we've got so many weapons all over the place that if they want to key on Kory, we've got other guys that can hurt you.”

Sheets' 130-yard rushing performance gives him 572 through four games this season, which is the most in the first four games in CFL history.  He remains on pace for 2,574 yards this season.

Durant didn't look like his foot was effecting him at all during the game as he avoid the rush with ease.  He finished the game 20-of-32 for 347 yards and four touchdowns, and added 25 yards rushing on two carries.

He said his foot is sore after the game, but didn't think it would hold him out next week.  “In that fourth quarter it started getting a little weak on me, so I'm just glad we built enough cushion that it didn't call for me to do too much running or anything like that,” he said.

“That was phenomenal of Darian,” said Chamblin on his quarterback's effort.  “Darian fought through it, he really did fight through during the week.  I'm proud of him, I'm proud of the way he played and how he handled the situation.”

While the offence was clicking, Durant gave the credit to the defence for giving them the room to experiment as they kept the Ti-Cats offence off the field.  “When the defence is playing like that, you can open up the playbook and do everything you want to do,” he said.  “Hats off to the D, they did a great job.”

The Riders' defence held Hamilton to just 195 yards – compared to the 500 that the Riders put up – and were able to pressure Burris throughout the game.  They finished the game with five sacks – four in the second half – and one interception.

“We've been preaching it all week long that we were giving up points in the first quarter and fourth quarter, but we were able to give up no points in either of those quarters, so we were able to play our first full sixty minutes of football,” said linebacker Rey Williams, who was the focus coming into the game due to his comments regarding his release from Hamilton.

“I came here for one reason and that's to win ball games,” he added.  “We had worship this morning and the good lord told me to leave (Kent Austin) alone, so I left him alone.”

He finished with two sacks and three tackles to lead the Riders defence.  Prince Miller had a team-high six tackles, while Butler, Ricky Foley and Jermaine McElveen each had one sack.

The Riders have a one-game cushion on Calgary and BC right now in the West Divison, so staying at 4-0 was huge.  The Riders have Monday and Tuesday off, and then return to practice on Wednesday.  They will stay focused on Hamilton as they look to improve to 5-0 next Saturday when they hit the road to play the Ti-Cats.