With the victory on Saturday afternoon, the Riders jumped ahead of the B.C. Lions for second place in the West Division
In front of 27,676 fans at Mosaic Stadium in Week 17 of the CFL season, the Riders improved to 7-7-1 while the Redblacks dropped to 8-6-1.
With the victory, the Riders jumped ahead of the B.C. Lions (7-8) for second place in the West Division after B.C. lost to Hamilton 32-29 on Friday night.
Scoring Summary
After Lauther kicked a 35-yard field goal on the opening drive of the game, the Riders took an early 3-0 lead.
Later in the first quarter, after Ottawa’s Lewis Ward missed a 46-yard field goal, Saskatchewan’s Mario Alford brought the kick out of the end zone and proceeded to run 75 yards to the Ottawa 43-yard line.
After quarterback Trevor Harris generated a pair of first downs, the drive stalled before Lauther kicked his second field goal of the day from 21 yards out to make it 6-0 early in the second quarter.
On Ottawa’s next play, the Riders got the ball right back as defensive back Rolan Milligan Jr. notched his league-leading seventh interception of the season off Redblacks’ quarterback Jeremiah Masoli. However, the Riders were forced to punt the ball away on the drive.
Saskatchewan took the ball away again as defensive back Marcus Sayles intercepted Masoli on Ottawa’s next drive. However, the Riders couldn’t turn it into points and punted the ball away once again.
Later in the second quarter, Saskatchewan made it 9-0 as Lauther kicked a field goal from 33 yards out.
With two minutes left in the half, Ottawa made it 9-3 as Ward split the uprights from 37 yards.
On the first drive of the second half, the Riders extended their lead to 12-3 as Lauther connected on a field goal from 41 yards out.
Later in the third quarter, the Riders nabbed their third pick of the day as linebacker Adam Auclair intercepted Masoli at Saskatchewan’s 27-yard line.
Saskatchewan turned that into three more points as Lauther connected from 39 yards out to put the Riders up 15-3.
Early in the fourth quarter, the field goal fest continued as Ward connected from 53 yards out to make it 15-6.
On Ottawa’s next drive, receiver Justin Hardy turned a short pass into a 41-yard gain before Ward kicked a 26-yard field goal to make it 15-9.
After a successful two-point convert, the Riders went up 23-9 with 7:58 left.
Following a punt by the Redblacks, Harris hit KeeSean Johnson down the seam for a 53-yard gain before Lauther kicked his sixth field goal of the day from 24 yards out to extend Saskatchewan’s lead to 26-9 with 4:03 remaining.
The Redblacks then scored their first touchdown of the game as Masoli connected with Kalil Pimpleton for an 11-yard score. With the convert, Ottawa trailed the Riders 26-16 with 1:56 left.
After an unsuccessful onside kick by the Redblacks, the Riders got the ball at Ottawa’s 43-yard line before Lauther kicked his seventh field goal of the night, this one from 35 yards out, to put Saskatchewan up 29-16 with 17 seconds left to seal the victory.
Next up
The Roughriders are set to visit the Edmonton Elks next week.
The Elks (5-10) lost 55-27 to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers (9-6) on Friday night and remain five points back of Saskatchewan and four back of the Lions in the West Division standings.
The Regina Leader-Post has created an Afternoon Headlines newsletter that can be delivered daily to your inbox so you are up to date with the most vital news of the day. Click here to subscribe.
With some online platforms blocking access to the journalism upon which you depend, our website is your destination for up-to-the-minute news, so make sure to bookmark leaderpost.com and sign up for our newsletters so we can keep you informed. Click here to subscribe.