It was a tale of two halves for the Saskatchewan Roughriders, with their offense struggling late as their winless skid extended to five games in a narrow 20-19 loss to the Toronto Argonauts on Thursday night.
The Riders started strong offensively, with Trevor Harris leading his unit to an early 13-0 lead, including a 13-yard touchdown pass to KeeSean Johnson late in the first quarter.
However, the offense cooled down significantly for the rest of the game and couldn’t gain any momentum. Samuel Emilus shone on offense, ending with 66 receiving yards, while Frankie Hickson filled in admirably for the injured AJ Ouellette, amassing 79 yards on 16 carries.
On the defensive side, the Riders showed resilience, causing four turnovers and making not one, not two, but three goal-line stands.
Lirim Hajrullahu connected on four of his five field goal attempts, but his one miss proved decisive, as his rouge secured the Argos’ sixth win of the season.
Coming off one of the worst games of his professional career, Riders kicker Brett Lauther redeemed himself by going four for four on his field goals, delivering a much-needed performance for the veteran.
Next up is the Labor Day Classic, where the Saskatchewan Roughriders will host the Winnipeg Blue Bombers on Sunday, September 1st, at Mosaic Stadium.
Fans unable to attend can catch all the excitement starting at 2:00 PM on 620 CKRM’s Countdown to Kickoff, followed by play-by-play coverage with Dave Thomas and Luc Mullinder at 5:00 PM on the Cooperators Roughriders Radio Network.
