Mitchell Blair
Riderville.com
The Saskatchewan Roughriders welcome back some old friends in different colours in Week 5 of CFL play. For the 2nd time this season, the Green & White will take on former Riders Andy Fantuz, Henry Burris, Luca Congi, and Rey Williams along with former coaches Jim Daley and George Cortez as the 2-2 Hamilton Tiger-Cats invade Mosaic Stadium to take on the 3-1 Riders in a 4 o’clock start Saturday afternoon.
The biggest headline going into the contest is the return of Fantuz. After six years in a Rider uniform, the Canadian wide receiver spurned an offer to stay with the Riders and moved back to his Southern Ontario roots to continue his career with the Ti-Cats. The man that made him look good for most of his years in Riderville doesn’t know what type of reaction he will get, but Darian Durant knows how he wants the day to end.
“Our job is to spoil the day for him and I’m looking forward to it,” Durant said with a laugh when meeting the media Friday afternoon. “He was a big part of our success in our Grey Cup runs. He was the league’s best Canadian at a Grey Cup and he was the league’s best Canadian when he was here so he means a lot to this franchise.”
When the teams first met to open up the season, Durant threw four touchdown passes in a 43-16 win at Ivor Wynne Stadium. He says the team they beat that night has changed a little and will be different when they take the field against the Riders.
“They’ve done some things differently, but the thing they have really done is sharpen up their game.” Durant said. “They are just doing what they do well better over the last few weeks and we know it will be tough to match what we did the first time around.”
One of the reasons the Riders put up 43 in that season-opening win was the performance of Kory Sheets who had 80 yards and a touchdown on 12 carries. The first year running back is hoping for another big night, but he knows his work will be cut out for him. He adds his team has not lost any confidence in themselves after losing their first game of the year in Calgary last week in a game they should have won.
“Last week was a wake-up call, there is no doubt about it,” Sheets said. “We came in here this week having to re-focus and realize that we have to play a full sixty minutes if we are to win a football game. When you have someone down, you don’t take it easy on them and if we get up on Hamilton this week, we won’t take it easy on them. We still know that we have a good football team here and we intend to show that again.”
Head Coach Corey Chamblin is looking forward to seeing his team get back on the field after last week’s loss against Calgary. He is also looking forward to being back at home where he knows the Rider Nation will make it difficult for the opposition to do their thing.
“Having that 13th man just roaring really helps us,” Chamblin said. “You can practice with crowd noise, but its just not the same. The fans are awesome and they bring the energy every play just like we want to. Hopefully they will make it hard for the Tiger-Cats and help us get that win that we are looking for.”
GAME NOTES:
Kory Sheets will try for not only his first 100 yard game in the CFL, but the team’s first in over two years. The last Rider to run for over 100 yards in a game was Wes Cates in July 2010 against Edmonton
The Tiger-Cats have not beaten the Riders at Taylor Field/Mosaic Stadium since 2000. The Riders quarterback that day was current Hamilton quarterback Henry Burris
The Riders defence has been smothering when it comes to the 3rd quarter. In four games this year, the team has allowed just six points
