November 30, 2006

Fantuz And Congi Ink Deal With Riders!

Saskatchewan Roughrider General Manager and VP of Football Operations Eric Tillman is pleased to announce that the team has re-signed wide receiver Andy Fantuz and kicker Luca Congi. Both players have signed two-years plus an option contracts. Financial details of the signings were not released.

"The best teams in our league place a premium on securing top quality Canadian content," said Tillman. "By extending Andy and Luca through 2009, we have taken a big step in the right direction."

In his CFL rookie season with the Riders, Fantuz tallied 30 catches for 408 yards with three touchdowns and one rushing touchdown in 18 games. The Western Ontario product and 2005 Hec Crighton Winner was selected in the first round (3rd overall) by the Green and White in the 2006 Canadian College Draft.

"With continued development we feel Andy will become an all-star," noted Tillman. "And in our opinion, Luca has already established himself as one of the premium field goal kickers in the league."

In his first CFL season, Congi led the league with an 86.4 field goal percentage, with his longest being from 53 yards. Congi played in all 18 regular season games as well as in both playoff match-ups. He was the Riders nominee for Most Oustanding Rookie in the CFL and was also selected as a Special Teams Player-of-the-Week. The kicker came to the Riders this season after being selected in the 2nd round (12th overall) in the 2006 Canadian College Draft.