Riders Lose Pre-season Finale

 Action between the Saskatchewan Roughriders and Calgary Stampeders at Mosaic Stadium Friday night (Photos: Colin Powers)

The Saskatchewan Roughriders finished the 2012 preseason at 0-2 after a 33-31 loss to the Calgary Stampeders on Friday night.  30,998 fans packed into the newly renovated Mosaic Stadium for the game and the two teams didn't disappoint.

Quarterback JT O'Sullivan hit rookie wide receiver Ismael Bamba for a 28-yard touchdown in the final minute to give the Riders a 31-30 lead, but the Stamps drove into field goal range and kicker Rene Paredes nailed the 42-yard winner as time expired to give Calgary a 2-0 preseason.

The Stampeders field goal was set up by a sliced kick off by Regina Rams kicker Chris Bodnar, giving the Stamps the ball on their 45 yard line with 50 seconds to go.

Head coach Corey Chamblin said it was an exciting game, but they wanted the win.  “It was awesome, especially toward the end it was electrifying, and those are the kind when it gets like that, you want to close it out in a positive manner,” explained Chamblin during his post-game media conference.  “Those are the things that we’ll go back and make sure that we do close them out in a positive manner.”

Starting QB Darian Durant played the entire first half and after struggling to get things going during the first quarter, he still finished 9-of-12 passing with 92 yards.  Durant also had three carries for 34 yards.

Drew Willy, the first-year pivot from the University of Buffalo, continued to impress in his quarter of action.  Willy played the third quarter and went 9-for-11 with 96 yards passing and a four-yard touchdown pass to slotback Chris Getzlaf.  Getzlaf led all Rider receivers with six catches for 82 yards.

Sullivan finished off the quarterback rotation going 5-for-10 with 70 yards passing and the late touchdown.  Levi Brown didn’t get into the game.

“I was pretty happy with the quarterback play and I think they’re still learning and I think their doing a good job in learning everything that (quarterbacks coach Khari Jones) teaching them,” said Chamblin.  “They did make some big plays and I was impressed with Drew Willy.  He throws a good deep ball.  JT did some good things and of course, Darian looked back to old form taking off when he needed to, so I’m proud of that play.”

Willy said he was happy with his performance, “Would have loved to get the win, but we did a lot of good things out there.  We had a few mental errors as well, it’s something we can get better at.  But, when you have playmakers out there, like the number one receivers, it’s fun to get out there and throw it around.”

The Riders couldn’t find their groove early in the game on offence, starting off with a two-and-out on the opening drive, picking up just 63 yards in the first quarter and turning the ball over once.  Durant feels the team needed to start quicker out of the gate, “We just have to make sure we start a little faster, not dig ourselves in a hole.  We’re making it tough on our defence, so if we can get out in front, get a lead and make other teams one dimensional, then it will play to the strength of our defence.”

The starting defence was able to make some big plays early as the defensive end tandem of Brent Hawkins and Odell Willis provided plenty of pressure.  Hawkins picked off a Drew Tate pass early in the first quarter after it was tipped by Willis at the line. 

The 2011 CFL sack leader left the game in the second quarter with a reported thigh bruise, but Chamblin said it was nothing serious after the game, “I think Odell will be ready to go.  It was one of those things where there was no use in putting him out there and pushing through it.  If it was a regular game we would have, but it was just preseason.”

The Riders started to get going at the start of the second quarter as a 28-yard run by running back Kory Sheets set up Chris Milo’s first field goal of the game.  Milo finished the night 3-for-3 on field goal tries, including a 52-yard bomb to open the fourth quarter.  The Stamps’ Paredes was a perfect 6-for-6 on the night.

Sheets appeared to take hold of the starting running back position with a big performance.  He came in during the first quarter after a Brandon West fumble and picked up 81 yards rushing and 13 receiving.  He added 12-yard TD run in the second quarter for the Riders first score of the game.

Chamblin says Sheets was able to do some good things, “He was pretty excited out there and he brought some excitement to it and he electrified the crowd.  He had some good runs, there was a second-and-1 and he cut back, but I thought he should have stuck it in (the line).  He’s doing some good things, but he has some things to learn.”

West didn’t get much time after the fumble as he picked up just two carries for one yard and one catch for five yards.

The Riders will make their final cuts on Saturday before starting to get ready for the regular season opener in Hamilton against the Tiger Cats on June 29th.

A look at some of the new additions to Mosaic Stadium, including the new north end zone seating and the re-located SaskTel Maxtron

New seats in the south end zone with downtown Regina in the background