The Saskatchewan Roughriders head into their first bye week of the season with a perfect 4-0 record. Led by backup quarterback Jake Maier, the Riders leaned on a powerful run game and key defensive turnovers to earn a 37-18 home win over the BC Lions on Saturday.
Early drives only resulted in field goals as the Riders took a 6-0 lead into the second quarter, answered quickly by the Lions as a 15-yard touchdown catch by Keon Hatcher led to the Lions going up 7-6.
With just over a minute left Brett Lauther made it 9-7 with his third score of the night. BC got the ball back and moved within field goal range, but entered disaster mode with 13 seconds to go as Jeremiah Masoli had a wide-side pass picked off by Roughriders DB Tevaughn Campbell who returned the ball 89 yards to the house for another seven Riders points before halftime.
Getting the ball to start the third quarter the Roughriders marched down the field for a ten-play touchdown drive to go up 23-7. After that the teams traded scoreless possessions into the final minute of the quarter where BC got back on the board with a field goal for a 23-10 deficit. To start the fourth the Roughriders scored a punt single to make it 24-10, and then after a Rolan Milligan Jr. interception, Lauther added another field goal to put the Riders up 17.
The defence continued their strong play after that as Antoine Brooks Jr. picked-off Masoli for the Riders third interception of the night. That led to another three points from Lauther, and then with under 3:30 in regulation a 42-yard touchdown catch from Dhel Duncan-Busby sealed the big win.
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The Roughriders rushed for 188 yards as a team on Saturday, AJ Oullette rumbling early towards his game high total of 139 yards on 23 carries. As mentioned in the lead, the 19-point-win came without starting quarterback Trevor Harris who was out with a head/illness designation, Maier filling in for 170 yards on 13/23 passing.
The Riders next game won't be until July 11 when the Calgary Stampeders visit Mosaic Stadium in Regina for a Week 6 matchup.