Saskatchewan Roughriders player #5 (QB) Kevin Glenn is seen warming up before the 1st quarter of CFL game action between the Edmonton Eskimo's and the Saskatchewan Roughriders at the Brick Field located at Commonwealth stadium in Edmonton Friday, August 25/17. (CFL PHOTO Walter Tychnowicz- )
EDMONTON – The Saskatchewan Roughriders finally took their show on the road.
The Roughriders scored four offensive touchdowns, two defensive touchdowns and one major on special teams Friday en route to a 54-31 victory over the Edmonton Eskimos before 41,738 patrons at Commonwealth Stadium.
Saskatchewan had lost four straight games on the road — including three this season — and had dropped 15 straight regular-season away games against West Division teams. Those streaks ended in a big way Friday.
Asked if the contest was a “statement game,” Roughriders head coach-GM Chris Jones replied: “That’s up to y’all to decide all that, whether it’s a statement or not.
“We just wanted to win the next game, which happened to be here on the road against a very good opponent, a very well-coached football team,” Jones said after his team scored its most points in a game since it defeated the Montreal Alouettes 54-51 in overtime on July 1, 2010. “That’s a good football team over there and we played good football tonight.”
“I don’t necessarily think it was a statement game,” added quarterback Kevin Glenn. “I just think it was a game that we needed to win, being on the road (and) given the situation: Us coming off of a bye and what happened the last time we came off a bye.”
Saskatchewan beat the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 37-20 on July 8 before going on its first bye week of the season. When the Roughriders returned from that week off, they were beaten 27-10 by the Calgary Stampeders on July 22.
The Roughriders didn’t allow that to happen Friday. They also won their second straight game against a West Division team — they downed the visiting B.C. Lions 41-8 on Aug. 13 — and won a road game in the West for the first time since Sept. 7, 2014, when they downed the host Winnipeg Blue Bombers 30-24.
The victory Friday improved Saskatchewan’s record this season to 4-4-0. It’s the first time that the Roughriders have had a record of exactly .500 since July 26, 2014, when they beat the Toronto Argonauts 37-9 to improve to 2-2-0. Saskatchewan went on to finish that season with a 10-8-0 record.
After Friday’s victory, the Roughriders are riding high.
“We know we’re a good team,” said receiver Duron Carter. “It’s plain as day right now, especially coming up against two really good West opponents. Hopefully we can just keep the ball rolling.
“We want a snowball effect, just keep getting better and better as the weeks go on into the playoffs.”
The Roughriders scored first Friday when Naaman Roosevelt made a spectacular catch of a Glenn aerial for a seven-yard touchdown. Tyler Crapigna kicked the convert at 7:02 of the first quarter to give the Roughriders a 7-0 lead.
Those were the first first-quarter points scored on the road by Saskatchewan this season. The Roughriders had been outscored 16-0 in first quarters in their first three road games of the campaign.
Saskatchewan added another touchdown in the quarter after Willie Jefferson blocked a Hugh O’Neill punt. O’Neill tried to fall on the ball, but it squirted free — and Jefferson recovered it and trotted 22 yards to the end zone.
It was the first time the Roughriders had scored on a blocked punt since July 22, 2016, when Otha Foster III got his hands on a Zach Medeiros punt and Tevaughn Campbell returned it 14 yards for a major against the Ottawa Redblacks.
On Friday, Crapigna’s convert gave Saskatchewan a 14-0 lead at 12:47 of the opening frame.
The Eskimos got on the board at the 1:31 mark of the second quarter when Mike Reilly scored on a one-yard plunge. But O’Neill’s convert attempt was tipped and Carter returned it 113 yards for two points for the Roughriders.
Saskatchewan stretched the lead to 19-6 at 6:45 of the second quarter when Crapigna kicked a 20-yard field goal.
The lead grew to 20 at 14:45 of the second quarter when Crapigna converted a Cameron Marshall 21-yard touchdown reception. Glenn was under heavy pressure when he flipped the ball to an uncovered Marshall, who raced toward the end zone, went airborne to spin off two tacklers and scored.
The Roughriders, who had scored 10 first-half points in their first three road games of the season, had 26 at the break.
After O’Neill kicked a 54-yard single at 8:02 of the third quarter, Saskatchewan cornerback Jovon Johnson returned an interception 40 yards for a touchdown at 12:18. Crapigna added the point-after to give Saskatchewan a 33-7 lead.
Kacy Rodgers II got into the act on Edmonton’s next possession, picking off a Reilly pass and returning it 50 yards to paydirt. Crapigna’s convert gave the Roughriders a 40-7 lead at 14:33 of the third quarter.
The Eskimos got the first major of the fourth quarter, when Cauchy Muamba recovered a fumbled punt in the Saskatchewan end zone. Reilly hit Duke Williams for the two-point convert to cut the lead to 40-15 at 1:24 of the fourth.
The Roughriders added another touchdown at 7:45 of the final frame, when quarterback Vernon Adams Jr. — playing in his first game since being acquired Aug. 15 from Montreal — scored on a four-yard run. Crapigna converted that major.
Edmonton’s LaDarius Perkins scored on a nine-yard run at 11:38 and James Franklin connected with Kenny Stafford for the two-point convert to make it 47-23.
The Roughriders added another major at 13:43, when backup QB Brandon Bridge connected with Carter for a 12-yard TD. Crapigna kicked the convert.
The Eskimos completed the scoring at 14:55, when Franklin threw a 20-yard TD pass to Bryant Mitchell and then found Williams for the two-point convert.
“Our confidence is on 10 right now and we can only go up from there,” Jefferson said. “After last week, having a big win at home and then coming on the road and having a big win too, it just puts a lot on our shoulders to keep it up.
“We’ve totally changed from the beginning of the season. It seems like now we’re all locked in, we’re gelling together and we want to make the next person accountable for their actions. Right now, everything’s just clicking.”
Next up for the Roughriders is a home-and-home set with the Bombers, with games Sept. 3 at Mosaic Stadium and Sept. 9 in Winnipeg.
