The Saskatchewan Roughriders couldn't complete the comeback on Saturday afternoon at Mosaic Stadium, falling to the Montreal Alouettes, 34-28.  The Riders did clinch a playoff spot though thanks to the Calgary Stampeders, 34-32, win over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

The Riders were driving for the game winning touchdown, but ended up being 21 yards short when quarterback Darian Durant was sacked to end the game.

“We played a good football team and it went down to the wire, I don't think it should have went down to the wire, but we just have to learn how to start fast and close it out,” said head coach Corey Chamblin after the game.

“We left some plays out there on both sides of the ball.  A couple of mistakes here and there that regardless of what the calls might of been, we've just got to make sure we're playing solid and not get caught up in the hoopla.”

The game couldn't have started much better for the Riders as they took an 11-play opening drive into the end zone when backup quarterback Drew Willy hit fullback Graham Bell for a one-yard touchdown.

Montreal cut the lead to 7-3 early in the second quarter with a 23-yard field goal by kicker Sean Whyte and then took the lead not much later on a 18-yard TD pass by quarterback Anthony Calvillo to Bo Bowling.

The Alouettes added to their lead with a big 52-yard field goal by Whyte to make it 13-7 with 7:59 to go in the half.

The Riders would regain the lead before halftime thanks to a 66-yard punt return for a touchdown by slotback Weston Dressler to make it 14-13.  Tensions boiled over after that play with Montreal's Shea Emry being kicked out of the game for punching Riders offensive lineman Brendon LaBatte below the belt.

“Not smart on his behalf and Marc Trestman apologized to myself and the team for his team's actions, but that's something that we need to keep going forward,” explained Chamblin.

LaBatte says he wasn't expecting to get punched in that area, “I know him as a guy that plays on the edge between the whistles, but that sort of stuff when the plays not even blown in is just dirty, low class.

“That's out of my control now, the league will look at it and do what they do with it, but no doubt about it, that's a dirty play.”

When the game picked back up it was all Montreal as they built up a 27-14 lead by the end of the third quarter thanks to a one-yard TD run by backup QB Adrian McPherson and a 14-yard scamper by Calvillo.

Calvillo added his second rushing touchdown of the day at the start of the fourth quarter on a 22-yard run as the game looked like it was turning into rout, but the Riders wouldn't go away.

Durant connected with Dressler for a nine-yard scoring strike to cut the Als lead to 34-21 with most of the fourth quarter left to go.  Running back Kory Sheets capped a nine-play Rider drive by scoring for one-yard out to make it 34-28 with 2:51 to go.

The Riders got the ball back with just over two minutes left in the game and drove down to the 20-yard line, but the offence couldn't score on two tries and Durant was sacked as time expired for the 34-28 loss.

Riders QB Darian Durant is tackled by Montreal's Kenny Ingram. (photo courtesy of Riderville.com)

Durant finished the game 24-of-40 throwing for 219 yards and a touchdown.  He also ran twice for 29 yards.  Durant was hurt at the end of the game, but he says it was nothing serious, “A little sore right now, but the doctors don't think it's anything serious.

“It's my shin, I took a pretty good leg whip there.  It's something that has been bothering me for a while and I got hit in the exact spot that's been bothering me, so we'll see and give it time to see if the pain goes down.”

Calvillo ran for two touchdowns for the first time in his 19-year CFL career and went 16-of-28 passing for 262 yards and a TD.  

Slotback Jamal Richardson torched the Riders, and specially halfback Eddie Russ, for eight catches and 161 yards.  Chamblin said that he felt Russ had a rough day, “Your playing against a Jamal Richardson, the top player in this league at receiver, you're going to have days like that, but at some point you're going to have to grow up and decide if you're going to be a good football player or a great football player.”

Chamblin didn't want to focus on the negatives and wants to move forward towards their final two regular season games, “You have to eliminate the negative play and we have to just bring out the positive play and that's something that we'll sit and see what we need to do to go forward.”

Saskatchewan drops to 8-8 with the loss, but still clinched their first trip to the playoffs since 2010.  They missed out on a home playoff game with Calgary locking that up with their win over Hamilton.

There's one home game left at Mosaic Stadium this season as they'll play host to the Toronto Argonauts coming up next Saturday.  The Riders finish the regular season on November 3rd in BC.