Week 21 CFL Wrap

STAMPEDERS 27 ROUGHRIDERS 12

REGINA – A day of hope turned into a day of despair for the Saskatchewan Roughriders on Saturday.

The day began with the Riders having an outside chance of finishing first in the CFL’s West Division, but a 28-27 victory by the Winnipeg Blue Bombers over the Montreal Alouettes earlier in the day ended that hope.

Then the Riders took to the field against the Calgary Stampeders in their regular-season finale and put in a lacklustre effort that resulted in a 27-12 defeat.

The Winnipeg victory, coming on a 51-yard field goal by Sergio Castillo on the final play of the game, snatched the possibility of finishing first from the Riders. The ensuing mental letdown played a major role in the loss to the last-place Stampeders.

Riders head coach Corey Mace believed his players could handle the disappoint of the Winnipeg victory, but he acknowledged the letdown.

“It sure felt like it and I wish it didn’t. At halftime, we spoke about it a little bit, and even before the game, the goal was always the goal, we’ve got to go 1-0. There were some guys who had an opportunity to play who maybe hadn’t seen an extensive amount of playing time,” said Mace.

“Everybody was excited about that, and those guys are part of this team and help us win. I just, I just didn’t feel like we had the juice tonight and it showed.”

Saskatchewan started the season with a 4-0 mark before stumbling through a nine-game winless streak with an 0-8-1 record.

The Stampeders, who finished last in the West with a 5-12-1 record, earned their first road victory of the season. It was a challenging season for the Stampeders and Calgary head coach and general manager Dave Dickenson liked how his team responded in Saturday’s game.

“I do think we got good character on our team. I believe we have good culture; I do. I believe the guys work hard and they want to win. We just weren’t detail oriented enough at this point we lost our confidence. So yeah, (our team) will change, certainly, but at least you finished on the right note,” said Dickenson.

“Last week we played Hamilton. That was a tough one to swallow. I can’t look at any one person or anybody that really played or performed like they wanted to, and then (in this game), you can see a lot better. And certainly, the guys responded.”

With the Winnipeg victory, the Riders made several roster changes, removing defensive back Rolan Milligan, running back A.J. Ouellette and receivers KeeSean Johnson and Samuel Emilus from the lineup. They also chose to start Shea Patterson at quarterback in place of veteran pivot Trevor Harris.

(Canadian Press/Jeff DeDekker)

 

BLUE BOMBERS 28 ALOUETTES 27

MONTREAL – The Winnipeg Blue Bombers came to Montreal on Saturday afternoon with a mission: to clinch top spot in the CFL’s West Division.

Thanks to Sergio Castillo’s 51-yard field goal on the final play of the game, the Bombers accomplished just that, defeating the Alouettes 28-27 in front of a sold-out crowd at Percival Molson Stadium.

Trailing by two as time wound down in the fourth quarter, veteran kicker Castillo booted his fifth field goal of the game to help Winnipeg (11-7) clinch its fourth straight division title and home-field advantage for the West Division final.

“We’ve done it a bunch of different ways,” Winnipeg head coach Mike O’Shea said. “The statistics will say that it is important, but if we didn’t get this win, I would have said it was unimportant.

“I don’t think we’re going to put too much stock into it. It just gives us some time to get healthier and keep working.”

Blue Bombers quarterback Zach Collaros went 24-for 32, throwing for 331 yards and one touchdown.

“What a turn of the events there the last few minutes,” Collaros said. “It started to rain or hail a little bit with some swirling wind. (Castillo) made a huge kick for us. He’s done it time and time again.”

Wide receiver Nic Demski finished with a touchdown on 90 yards, allowing him to surpass 1,000 yards for the second straight season.

Alouettes starting quarterback Cody Fajardo completed 16 of his 20 passes for 171 yards and one passing touchdown in just under three quarters of action. Backup quarterback Davis Alexander took over behind centre late in the third quarter, finishing 7-of-9 passing for 100 yards and one rushing touchdown.

“We showed up tonight,” Fajardo said. “We showed that we weren’t going to lay down for anyone. Our philosophy going into this game was this was our first real playoff game against a really good team that was going to give us everything they got. We took them to the wire, so I’m proud of the guys.”

Montreal (12-5-1) had already clinched top spot in the East Division, a feat they accomplished for the first time since 2012.

 

ELKS 31 ARGONAUTS 30

As Elks quarterback Tre Ford was about to begin his post-game media availability, Toronto Argonauts general manager Mike “Pinball” Clemons” poked his head into the Edmonton players’ lounge.

He pointed at Ford and called out, “I love you, man.”

Even Ford’s opponents admired how the Canadian quarterback rallied Edmonton to a 31-30 overtime win over the Argos Friday at Commonwealth Stadium. It was a game that meant nothing in the CFL standings, but, for Ford, the game offered him a chance to showcase himself to the league. The former first-round draft pick is not under contract for next season.

Ford passed for 325 yards and three touchdowns, and added 81 yards rushing in only three quarters of work. Jarret Doege played the second quarter in a planned rotation.

“The fourth quarter was phenomenal,” said Ford. “We were able to go down and get (three) crucial touchdowns that were huge. It gave us the opportunity to win the game.”

Jake Julien’s 54-yard punt sailed over the end zone for a rare game-winning rouge.

“I thought maybe we had a shot at catching it and kicking it back out,” said Argos’ coach Ryan Dinwiddie. “We had a plan for it, but, yeah, he hit it long.”

“I looked at Jake and said, ‘Can you kick it out of the back of the endzone?’” said Elks head coach Jarious Jackson. And the response? “Gotcha.”

“I trusted him, I believed in him, I see him kick it every day.”

The Elks capitalized on big plays and a powerful running game to overcome an 11-point deficit in the fourth quarter during the regular season finale for both teams.

REDBLACKS 37 TIGER-CATS 31

The Ottawa Redblacks capped off their regular season with a wild 37-31 victory over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Friday night, building momentum as they head into the playoffs.

The teams combined for 1,067 yards, including 445 yards through the air from Redblacks quarterback Dru Brown and 425 passing yards from Bo Levi Mitchell on the other side.

There were eight combined lead changes, and the game ended on a goal-line stand as the Redblacks’ defence held the Tiger-Cats on a first-and-goal from the one, stopping three consecutive run attempts.

More importantly, the Redblacks halted a five-game losing streak and will head into the East Division semifinal in Toronto next week with a much-needed boost.

“It feels good going into the playoffs with a victory,” Redblacks coach Bob Dyce said. “There’s a lot of positives to build off in that game. The defence made some plays early and they made the most important plays of the game with the one-yard line stop. That’s what you have to do in clutch moments and be your best. They did that.”

Hamilton entered Friday’s game aware that their season was coming to a close, regardless of the outcome.

Ottawa kicker Lewis Ward went five-for-five in field goals Friday while Kalil Pimpleton had six catches for 167 yards including a game-winning 65-yard touchdown. Dominique Rhymes pulled down six catches for 115 yards pushing him over 1,000 yards receiving for the third time in his career.

“Happy for Dom. It’s funny, at halftime I asked him to talk to the team. Dom’s been a really good leader for us and this game means a lot to him. This team means a lot to him, and to see him be able to have this success is just fantastic,” Dyce said.

Bralon Addison and Jaelon Acklin also caught touchdown passes from Brown, who gave accolades to Mitchell post-game.

“I appreciate how he plays the game, and that’s kind of who he’s been through his career. He throws it and asks questions later and I try to do the same. I appreciate watching him go out there and do that. He’s a great guy to watch and learn from,” Brown said.

Mitchell threw for a touchdown and one interception while setting a single-season passing record for the Tiger-Cats with over 5,400 yards in 2024.

“I’m proud of this team and the resiliency. We pulled together and got the right guys on the bus, trusted in the staff and trusted in each other,” Mitchell said. “Emotions are up and down right now and you feel like you got (this game) stolen from you, but hats off to them. They made a hell of a goal-line stand and good luck to them in the playoffs.

(Canadian Press)

AMBROSIE LEAVING CFL

In November, CFL commissioner Randy Ambrosiewill hand off the Grey Cup for the final time. Ambrosie announced Saturday that he’ll retire sometime in 2025 after seven-plus seasons. The 61-year-old from Winnipeg will formally step down once his successor has been found. He leaves with the league’s teams enjoying solid ownership and steady attendance. But there have been hurdles, including the league cancelling its 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.