Game Recap
A season that started out with a championship dream, ended off as a nightmare, with the Saskatchewan Roughriders finishing off the 2022 campaign on a seven game losing streak, with the Calgary Stampeders providing the final blow to the Riders season with a 36-10 win on Saturday at McMahon Stadium.
Calgary was off and running early has they held a 10-0 lead after the first quarters, and a 23-3 advantage when both teams entered their locker rooms at half time.
Jamal Morrow provided a little life for the Roughriders at the beginning of the second half as he scored his third rushing touchdown of the season, his first rushing touchdown since July 2.
Linebacker Darnell Sankey etched his name in the Roughriders record as he established a new single season tackle record, surpassing the previous mark set by David Albright in 1987.
Larry Dean was able to reach the 100 tackle mark, him and Sankey become only the second pair of CFL teammates to make 100 tackles in the same season.
Once again, the control of line scrimmage was a reason for a Roughriders defeat. The Stampeders offence was able to rush for 310 yards. Backup quarterback Tommy Stevens had 163 yards rushing highlighted by a 85 yard touchdown run in the second quarter. Dedrick Mills also had 125 yards rushing.
On defence, the Stampeders were able to register six sacks. This past season, the Roughriders ended up giving 77 sacks.
For Saskatchewan, Mason Fine ended his second start with 168 yards passing.
Shaq Evans had seven receptions for 76 yards four Saskatchewan.
Anthony Lanier was able to record a sack in his return to the Riders, he ends his season with eight.
The Roughriders will end the 2022 season with a 6-12 record.
After the game, head coach Craig Dickenson spoke during the post game show
“It was a frustrating year for all of us, just as frustrating for those players as it was for us coaches. We all came in the season with high hopes, with a mission in mind, with a work effort that matched that mission, but just for some reason or another it didn’t happen to us.”
Even though the record didn’t reflect it in 2022, Dickenson said he was proud of the work ethic of his team this season.
“I didn’t have to worry about guys rolling in late for meetings, they were very diligent, they were in two hours before we started a lot of them, we had a lot great workouts.”
The decision to carry only two quarterbacks on the roster with Jake Dolegala was an organizational decision , consisting of him, the rest of the coaching staff, and general manager Jeremy O’Day.
“We felt Cody (Fajardo) gave us the best chance in terms of short yardage, because he is our short yardage quarterback, and if Mason got hurt early, Cody knew the offence better and gave us our best chance of winning.”
The Riders head coach says the team’s discipline is an area that he wished was better this year.
“I’ve got to look long and hard at what we’re doing of practice and technique, we got to figure out a way to play a little cleaner.”
Dickenson also noted when the Riders were able to clean up their penalty trouble this season, that also coincide with their season ending seven game losing streak.
The Riders will empty their locker room on Sunday and an offseason with plenty of questions will begin.
