The Saskatchewan Roughriders late comeback in the 4th quarter was not enough as the Winnipeg Blue Bombers defeated the Riders 25-16 in the first game of the preseason for Saskatchewan.
Mason Fine started at quarterback for the Riders and saw action throughout the first quarter. The Riders turned the ball over twice in the opening quarter, the first was an interception on a ball that bounced off the fingertips of Paul McRoberts Jr. The second turnover was a fumble by Tevin Jones.
The opening half was dominated by the defence on both sides with the only three points coming from a 18 yard field goal by the Bombers Marc Liegghio in the 2nd quarter.
The Riders defence provided the only spark in the first half for the green and white with a couple of turnovers on downs highlighted by a third down sack from Justin Herdman-Reed.
Jake Dolegala saw his first action for Saskatchewan at QB in the 2nd quarter. He was unable to lead the Riders to any points in the opening half.
Troy Williams started the second half for the Riders at QB, his first series ended on a turnover on downs after he fumbled his third down passing attempt.
Winnipeg would extend their lead to 11-0 at the end of the third quarter following a one yard touchdown from Dru Brown.
Fine would draw back into the Riders lineup at QB at the beginning of the fourth quarter. The Riders would score their first points of the 2022 preseason at the beginning of the final quarter following a 45 yard field goal by Henry Nell.
The Blue Bombers would strike back quickly, less than minute later Dakota Prukop would connect with a wide open Whop Philyor for a 78 yard touchdown to make the score 18-3.
Saskatchewan would attempt to make a comeback late in the fourth quarter as Fine tossed a two yard touchdown to Jester Weah to cut the Riders deficit to 18-10.
Another touchdown was in the cards for the Riders as Dolegala returned to the Riders lineup and then completed a 18 yard touchdown to Dieuly Aristilde Jr. to cut the Bombers lead to 18-16. A two point attempt by the Riders would be unsuccessful.
The Bombers would put the game on ice late in the fourth following a 32 yard touchdown reception by Tavaris Harrison that would make the final, 25-16.
Fine ended his night going 13 for 18 with 114 yards with one touchdown and one interception. Dolegala was 6 for 10 for 70 yards with one touchdown and one interception.
The leading rusher for the Riders was Frankie Hickson with six carries for 47 yards. The Riders receivers were led by Samuel Emilus who had two receptions for 32 yards and Tevin Jones who had four receptions for 30 yards.
After the game Riders Head Coach Craig Dickenson said the Riders displayed both positives and negatives in the game. “I think we’re better than what we showed. I think we got to clean up a few things, we got to take better care of the football, I thought we gave it away too much, but for the most part I was proud of the effort. There’s going to be good film to watch and we will do some evaluating and go from there.”
One unit that had an up and down night according to Dickenson was the offensive line. “I felt like we did a decent job of getting off the ball as an offensive line, I thought we ran the ball fairly well.” Dickenson added “The quarterbacks had to move a little bit and had some guys in their face so we’ll look at the film and go from there.”
The Riders will wrap up the preseason on Friday when they face the BC Lions, you can catch the game on 620 CKRM beginning with pregame show at 5:00, and opening kickoff is set for 8:00.
