Ryquell Armstead rushed for 207 yards as the Saskatchewan Roughriders snapped a seven-game winless skid in Calgary on Friday night
On Friday night, the Roughriders snapped a seven-game winless streak by beating the Calgary Stampeders 37-29 in Week 16 of the CFL season.
With the victory, Saskatchewan improves to 6-7-1 to remain in third place in the West Division standings while the Stampeders drop to 4-9-1. The Riders picked up their first victory since July 19 while Calgary is now winless in six straight games.
Quarterback Trevor Harris completed 16 of 18 passes for 248 yards for the Riders with KeeSean Johnson (six catches, 90 yards) and Kian Schaffer-Baker (five catches, 80 yards, one touchdown) serving as his favourite targets. Harris also had a touchdown along the ground while short-yardage quarterback Shea Patterson had two scores himself.
On second-and-one, Stamps’ short-yardage quarterback Tommy Stevens faked a sneak on before finding a hole and going untouched 69 yards for the touchdown. Calgary took a 6-0 lead as the convert was missed.
After a 32-yard kickoff return by Saskatchewan’s Mario Alford, Harris put together an eight-play, 63-yard drive capped off by a one-yard touchdown plunge by Patterson. With the convert, the Riders went up 7-6.
Following field goals by each team, Saskatchewan put together an eight-play, 99-yard drive, powered by a 35-yard pass to Johnson and a 34-yard run by Armstead, before Patterson punched in his second touchdown of the night to put the Riders up 17-9.
After a fourth consecutive punt by the Stampeders, the Riders drove the field again as Harris marched 92 yards on seven plays before plunging into the end zone himself from one yard out to make it 24-9 with the convert at halftime.
Through 30 minutes, the Riders had 16 first downs while limiting Calgary to just four.
In the second half, Stamps’ quarterback Jake Maier put together an eight-play, 71-yard drive with six first downs before hitting Clark Barnes for an eight-yard touchdown to make it 24-16.
Saskatchewan delivered an immediate response as Armstead picked up 35 yards on four carries before Harris threw a 25-yard touchdown strike to Schaffer-Baker to put the Riders up 31-16.
Calgary answered right back with a touchdown of their own as Maier capped off a 10-play, 92-yard drive with an eight-yard touchdown pass to Jalen Philpot to make it 31-23 early in the fourth quarter.
The Riders added a field goal on their next drive as Lauther connected from 32 yards to put Saskatchewan up 34-23.
The Stampeders continued to claw back into the game as Maier drove the field once again before running back Dedrick Mills punched it into the end zone from two yards out to make it 34-29.
Calgary’s two-point convert was unsuccessful as the Riders held on to a five-point lead.
With under four minutes left, a roughing-the-kicker penalty extended Saskatchewan’s drive before Brett Lauther kicked a 40-yard field goal to put the Riders up 37-29 with 1:43 remaining.
As Calgary looked to drive the field to tie the game, Riders linebacker Jameer Thurman intercepted Maier on third-and-one with 1:17 left.
From there, Saskatchewan was able to run out the clock to seal the victory.
Friday’s game was the first meeting of the season between Saskatchewan and Calgary as they are also set to meet again on Oct. 26 in the final week of the season.
Next week, the Riders will host the Redblacks on Sept. 28 in Regina with kickoff set for 1 p.m.
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