The Saskatchewan Roughriders spotted the Toronto Argonauts a 14-0 lead and couldn't recover as they lost 31-26 on Saturday afternoon at Mosaic Stadium. The loss was the team's third straight to drop their record to 8-6 on the year.
“A lot of times we've just got to make sure that we come out ready to go, whether we're playing at home or on the road,” said head coach Corey Chamblin after the slow start cost his team. “We've done a good job starting fast, but today we didn't get out the hole on offence early and the defence didn't stop them, but after that we turned it on and were ready to go.”
“We've got to go out here and do some soul searching and figure out how we can come out and play fast in BC,” added running back Kory Sheets, who finished with 11 carries for 89 yards and four catches for 49 yards to lead the Riders offensively.
Quarterback Darian Durant was 24-of-38 passing for 252 yards with a touchdown and an interception. Slotback Weston Dressler kept his touchdown streak alive at six games with a fourth quarter score that pulled the Riders within two, but had a crucial drop on the two-point conversion. He had just two catches for 17 yards in the game.
Dressler says he needs convert those opportunities, “Those are types of plays that I should normally make. When I don't make those plays, I feel like I let the team down, they're count on me to catch those balls and put our team in a better position to win the game.”
Toronto scored on their opening possession, taking a long drive into Riders territory before quarterback Ricky Ray connected with Maurice Mann from 18-yards out for a 7-0 lead.
The Riders failed to respond on offence, going two-and-out, but the defence answered for them with linebacker Joe Lobendahn picking off Ray at the Riders' 19 yard line to get the ball back. Once again they couldn't do anything with it though as Saskatchewan went two-and-out for the third straight time to start the game.
The Argos capitalized on the Riders inept play early to go up 14-0 on a seven-yard touchdown catch by Andre Durie after a five play, 61-yard drive with 3:52 to go in the first quarter.
The Riders didn't find the board until a minute into the second quarter when kicker Sandro DeAngelies kicked a 38-yard field goal to make it 14-3. A little over four minutes later, Sheets took a hand off and went 24-yards into the end zone, powering his way through tackles with the help of offensive tackle Xavier Fulton.
Another DeAngelis' field goal, this one from 27-yards out, pulled the Riders within one at 14-13 with 5:20 to go in the half. Toronto answered though with Durie catching his second score of the game from seven-yards out to make it 21-13 with a 1:12 left in the first half.
The Riders got another DeAngelis field goal with no time left in the second quarter to go into the break down just 21-16.
A 72-yard kick return by Tristan Jackson to start the second half got the Riders in great field position at the Agros 13, but they couldn't capitalize and came away with just a single point on a missed 16-yard field goal by DeAngelis.
That play turned out to be huge for the Riders as the Agros struck quickly with Ray hitting Chad Owens for a 60-yard touchdown just three plays later and they were ahead 28-17. After shutting down Owens in their last meeting, the speedy receiver burnt the Riders on Saturday for 104 yards receiving and 74 return yards. He now sits just 73-yards shy of Michael 'Pinball' Clemons CFL record for total yards in a season.
The Riders headed into the fourth quarter down 28-20 after DeAngelis hit from 26 yards out on his fourth field goal of the game.
Saskatchewan cut the lead to 28-26 just four minutes into the fourth quarter on a 10-yard touchdown catch by slotback Weston Dressler. Dressler dropped the two-point conversion on the goal line though, which would have tied the game up.
DeAngelis' second miss on the afternoon was also costly as he tried from 43-yards out, but couldn't give the Riders the lead. Toronto answered with a 29-yard field goal from Swayze Waters to make it 31-26.
With the Riders pressing for the go-ahead points lead in the game, quarterback Darian Durant was hit in the head twice with no call being made. The first one came from linebacker Brandon Isaac and the second from Armond Armstead. Durant was picked off by Evan McCollough to end the game.
Much of the talk after the game focused on those two hits to the head that Durant took and he wasn't too happy with the non-calls, “There's nothing borderline about it. If helmet-to-helmet is a rule than it's a rule. If grabbing a face mask is a rule than it's a penalty. I don't think there's nothing borderline about that.”
Chamblin said that the calls need to be more consistent from the officials, “Not to critize, but the officials have to do a job to ensure that they're consistent always on any quarterback, no matter how big their name is or who the player is, we need to make sure we protect the most valuable thing in this league, which is our quarterback.”
The Riders will have the next few days off to try and figure out how to get back on the winning track when they finish off the regular season with a trip to BC next Saturday.
Sat, Apr 20, 1:00 PM
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