Third time was the charm for the Saskatchewan Roughriders as they defeated the Calgary Stampeders 20-17, on Saturday night.
The Riders struggled in the opening half as they fell behind 10-6 after the opening two quarters but came roaring back in the 2nd half lead as Cody Fajardo tossed a pair of touchdown passes in the second half, one to Bryaden Lenius in the 3rd quarter and the game winning score to Kyran Moore in the 4th quarter to lead the green and white to victory.
Head Coach Craig Dickenson was proud of his team’s effort in the win. “I thought we very resilient and we had some things go against us and I thought our guys bounced back and just kept playing, maybe that means we’re maturing. Dickenson added “It sure was nice to see our guys playing hard regardless of the score fortunately we came out ahead in the end.”
The Roughrider’s defence had a strong game with three interceptions off of Stamps QB Bo-Levi Mitchell. Jeremy Clark, Jacob Dearborn and Damon Webb were the recipients of Mitchell’s interceptions. The Riders defence was also credited with 4 sacks.
Duke Williams had 3 catches for 48 yards in his Riders debut and also recovered an onside kick late in the 4th quarter to preserve the win. Kyran Moore lead the way in receiving, hauling in 6 catches for 64 yards and a touchdown. Shaq Evans had 4 catches for 24 yards in his first action for the Roughriders since Week 2.
Brett Lauther went 2 for 4 on field goals connecting from 48 and 52 yards. Lauther also had to fill in for Jon Ryan at punter after the local product was injured during the game.
Saskatchewan moves to 6-4 on the season, two points ahead of the Stamps for second place in the CFL’s Western Division. Calgary holds the tiebreaker between the two teams after taking the opening two games in the season series.
The Riders are back in action on Saturday when they head east to meet the Alouettes in Montreal. Kickoff is at 5:00.