VANCOUVER — The Saskatchewan Roughriders did everything but win in the CFL pre-season.
The Roughriders lost 42-10 to the B.C. Lions on Friday at BC Place to finish their two-game exhibition schedule with an 0-1-1 record. Saskatchewan tied the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 25-25 on June 10 at Mosaic Stadium.
Those results weren’t much of a concern to Roughriders head coach-GM Chris Jones.
“I don’t remember a Grey Cup ever being won in the pre-season,” he said after Friday’s loss. “We’re going to go back to work and we’re going to pick the best football players that we possibly can and go to work for Montreal.”
The Roughriders open the regular season Thursday against the host Alouettes.
Before that, however, Jones and his staff have to trim the Roughriders’ roster. All CFL teams must set their 46-man rosters, their 10-man practice rosters and their injured lists by 8 p.m. CST on Saturday.
B.C. opened the scoring at 9:20 of the first quarter with a 32-yard Ty Long single, the result of a missed 35-yard field goal.
Saskatchewan assumed a 3-1 lead on the final play of the first quarter, when Tyler Crapigna kicked a 12-yard field goal. After starting 1-for-3 passing for four yards, starting quarterback Kevin Glenn went 4-for-5 for 77 yards on the drive — aided by a tremendous catch for a 41-yard gain by Duron Carter.
The Lions reclaimed the lead on the next possession. After finding Emmanuel Arceneaux for 28 yards and Nick Moore for 26, Jonathon Jennings hit Jeremiah Johnson with an 11-yard TD pass. Swayze Waters kicked the convert and B.C. led 8-3.
The Lions appeared poised to build on their lead, but a third-and-goal gamble from the three-yard line failed when Arceneaux couldn’t catch up to a Jennings pass in the back corner of the end zone.
B.C. made it 15-3 at 10:44 of the first quarter when Jennings found Brian Burnham for a nine-yard touchdown.
The Lions were back for more four plays later. Two plays after Solomon Elimimian forced a fumble with a big hit on Saskatchewan’s Jenson Stoshak, Jennings found Marco Iannuzzi for a 33-yard TD. Waters’ convert made it 22-3 at 12:08 of the second quarter.
Saskatchewan had an opportunity for points late in the half, but Crapigna’s 45-yard field-goal attempt hit the left upright. The half ended with B.C. leading 22-3.
The Lions had 15 first downs to Saskatchewan’s two in the opening 30 minutes. B.C. accumulated 271 yards of net offence in the first half, while the Roughriders had 92.
The Lions struck again at 8:18 of the third quarter, when Travis Lulay threw a 12-yard scoring pass to Arceneaux. Waters added the convert to make it 29-3.
The Lions added another touchdown on the final play of the third, when Loucheiz Purifoy returned a Thomas Mayo fumble 37 yards to the end zone. Waters kicked the convert and B.C. led 36-3.
Josh Stanford scored the Roughriders’ lone touchdown at 6:55 of the fourth quarter, hauling in a 39-yard pass from Bryan Bennett on a third-down gamble. Quinn van Gylswyk added the convert to make 36-10.
Long kicked 49- and 42-yard field goals down the stretch to complete the Lions’ scoring.
Glenn finished with five completions in seven pass attempts for 81 yards. Brandon Bridge was next in the quarterback rotation and was 6-for-12 passing for 32 yards with an interception.
Bridge had control for the offence for nine possessions, none of which generated a first down. Two plays that would have produced first downs during his drives were wiped out by penalties and other drives were hampered by penalties that put the Roughriders in first-and-long.
“I think it was below average,” Bridge said when asked to assess his performance. “We couldn’t get a drive going. We had a lot of pre-snap penalties and when we ever had a first down, we had some sort of penalty — and we can’t win football games like that.
“I think everyone tried their best to do what was called, but we’ve got to find ways not to have penalties to set us back behind the sticks. First-and-20 is hard to achieve a first down. We can’t win football games like that.”
Bennett was Saskatchewan’s third quarterback; he went 3-for-7 passing for 45 yards and a TD. Marquise Williams finished up and was 5-for-6 for 89 yards with an interception.
The Roughriders ran the ball just five times in the game for 15 yards. Jones and his staff are trying to decide on a starting tailback, but Anthony Allen (one carry for six yards), Greg Morris (one rush for four yards) and Cameron Marshall (two carries for two yards) didn’t get many opportunities to run the ball.
Jennings was 10-for-14 passing for 197 yards with three TDs for the Lions. Lulay was 4-for-6 for 29 yards with one major. Johnson rushed nine times for 55 yards and Josh Harris added nine carries for 48 yards.
Saskatchewan’s defence recorded five sacks, including two by Davis Tull.
