It would be a tall task for the Saskatchewan Roughriders to pick up their first win of 2016. The Ottawa REDBLACKS came into Mosaic Stadium as the lone undefeated team in the CFL for some Friday night football.
Mitchell Gale made his first career start in for an injured Darian Durant and came out of the dressing room with a hot hand hitting Ricky Collins on multiple 20-plus-yard completions to set up a Tyler Crapigna field goal and the early 3-0 lead.
The REDBLACKS took a big hit on their first drive of the game when quarterback Trevor Harris was sacked by Corvey Irvin and in the process had his leg rolled on and was done for the game. From there Brock Jensen would take the reins of the Ottawa offence.
Gale led the Riders on another long drive that stalled on the REDBLACKS 34-yard line and ended up with Crapigna’s second field goal of the quarter.
Even with the loss of Harris, the REDBLACKS offence didn’t miss a beat as Jensen his Brad Sinopoli on a 65-yard catch and run and the lead.
They exchanged singles and field goals before the Rider special teams made their first big play of the night when Otha Foster blocked the REDBLACKS punt and Tevaughn Campbell scooped it up and went 14 yards the other way for the touchdown and the 17-9 lead.
That lead didn’t last long when Jensen and Sinopoli connected on another long pitch and catch to tie the game at 17 apiece before Ottawa hit another field goal to take the 20-17 lead to the locker room.
The second half began with Chris Milo enjoying his former home by hitting a pair of 35 and 38-yard field goals to stretch the Ottawa lead to nine.
The Riders didn’t have a first down in the 3rd quarter until Gale hit Roosevelt on an 89-yard touchdown to cut the lead to 26-24 heading into the final frame.
Tyler Crapigna drilled a 35-yard field goal for the Riders as they took their first lead since early in the 2nd quarter 27-26.
The REDBLACKS responded late in the game as Chris Milo hit his fourth field goal of the game to put them up two with just 2:11 left in the game.
It was a resilient Rider offence the drove with the wind 26-yards to set up Crapigna from 53 yards out, and he drilled it for the 30-29 lead with under a minute left in the game.
The Rider defence stepped up from there with sacks by A.C. Leonard and Justin Capicciotti to seal the Riders first victory of the season.
Mitchell Gale was fantastic in his first career CFL start going 21/36 for 354 yards and a touchdown and had high praise for the total team effort, “What an example of a team win. Special teams picked us up late, defence picked us up, offence we made some big plays. I think the reason why you hear so much noise in that room is; number one, it was our first win, but most importantly we won it as a team.”
The Riders will now head on the road looking for their second win of the season next Friday night to face the Alouettes. It’s a 5:00pm Saskatchewan time kick-off from Percival Molson Stadium in Montreal.
Rider Leaders
Passing:
Mitchell Gale 21/36, 354 Yds., 1 TD, 100.9 QBR
Receiving:
Naaman Roosevelt 8/182, 1TD
Rushing:
Mitchell Gale 6/18
Defence:
Justin Capicciotti 4 Tackles, 2 Sacks
