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The Saskatchewan Roughriders put in a complete effort on Saturday afternoon to beat the Hamilton Tiger Cats 29-9, improving their CFL best record to 8-1 in front of a packed house at Mosaic Stadium in Regina.
Coming off a bye week, the Roughriders got off to a slow start allowing the Tiger Cats to drive the field twice in the opening quarter. Those drives thankfully only resulted in field goals as Saskatchewan exercised some bend-but-don't-break defense for a 6-1 score after the first.
After trading punts to start the second quarter the Roughriders hit paydirt immediately on their second possession with a 58-yard touchdown pass from Trevor Harris to Dhonte Meyers, converting a two-point conversion to go up 9-6.
It stayed that way past the three-minute warning until Trevor Harris capped another touchdown drive with a 26-yard pass to Tommy Nield to make it 15-6, and the Riders defense came up clutch to allow Brett Lauther to nail a 59-yard kick before the half to put Saskatchewan up 19-6.
The third quarter began with another rouge after Lauther missed his second field goal of the game, and then a quiet third ended with fireworks again as the Riders added to their lead in the final minute with Harris' third touchdown of the game, all to different receivers as Joe Robustelli hauled in a score.
Each team added a field goal in the fourth to make the final score 29-9, and karaoke from the crowd sent the game into its final seconds as Saskatchewan rode Country Roads all the way to the Pink Pony Club for the victory.
The Roughriders have used contributions from all over on their road to 8-1.
The offense might be clicking, but the defense has been downright dominant with no touchdowns allowed over their last eight quarters on the field. On Saturday they held the league's leading passer Bo Levi Mitchell to just over 200 yards and forced him into two interceptions courtesy Rolan Milligan Jr. and Tevaughn Campbell, the Riders defense also registering two forced fumbles and a pair of turnovers on downs.
Those statistics still aren't overshadowing strong offensive numbers across the board as Harris put up another 70+ per cent completion percentage with 300+ yards and three touchdowns, spreading the ball out like he does best as Keesean Johnson was the leading receiver at 117 yards on 8 catches while Meyers, Nield, and Robustelli earned the scores.
Sitting comfortably at the top of the standings, the Riders will aim to stay hot when they hit the road on Saturday against Calgary for a 5:00 PM start. The Stampeders are the only team to beat Saskatchewan so far this season, a postponed game back on Saturday, July 12 that Calgary took convincingly 24-10.
The Stampeders battled adversity that weekend after being forced to retreat to the University of Regina dorms after a smoke-filled Friday night, opposed to the Roughriders who got to sleep in their own beds, as you can read more from that unique situation back in July below: