Ottawa returns the favour to Saskatchewan

The Saskatchewan Roughriders aren’t so sure that turnabout is fair play.

Two weeks after Saskatchewan rallied from a 17-0 deficit to beat the host Ottawa Redblacks 18-17, the Redblacks came back from a 32-20, fourth-quarter deficit to stun the Roughriders 33-32 on Friday at Mosaic Stadium.

Saskatchewan led 32-27 with 1:34 left in the fourth quarter, but the Redblacks drove 87 yards in 10 plays — the last of which was Ryan Lindley’s one-yard touchdown run with two seconds left in regulation time.

“That’s a tough one,” Saskatchewan quarterback Kevin Glenn said after his CFL team fell to 8-7-0. “You’re up and you have the momentum. But that’s the CFL game: It’s never over. (They were) down 12 with two minutes and something left and they pull away by one.”

On Sept. 29 in Ottawa, the Roughriders trailed 17-7 going into the fourth quarter before scoring 11 straight points in the final frame. Josh Bartel’s 55-yard punt single with 2:12 left in regulation time provided the winning point.

On Oct. 7 in Toronto, Saskatchewan trailed the Argonauts 16-3 late in the second quarter before rallying to take a 24-17 lead. The Argos tied the contest with 3:41 left in the fourth quarter, but the Roughriders got a field goal from Tyler Crapigna with seven seconds remaining to pull out a 27-24 win.

On Friday, the Roughriders got a taste of their own medicine.

“You’ve got to give Ottawa credit,” Glenn said. “They came in here and did to us what we went out there and did to them, coming back in the second half and winning by one.”

The Roughriders still have a firm grasp on a playoff spot, but they could have locked one up if they had defeated Ottawa and if the B.C. Lions were to lose in Winnipeg on Saturday. Alas, the first half of that scenario didn’t happen.

Saskatchewan controlled the ball for 38 minutes 19 seconds and had 446 yards of net offence to Ottawa’s 330. But the Roughriders were forced to settle for six field goals by Crapigna and, when the chips were down, the defence couldn’t stop the Redblacks.

“(It was) very reminiscent of the earlier game this year in Montreal (where the Roughriders lost 17-16 on June 22) …,” Saskatchewan head coach-GM Chris Jones said. “Clearly, we’re a better football team, however we make enough mistakes to leave people in the game.

“(On Friday) we kick six field goals, don’t score touchdowns, leave people on the field a couple of times with penalties. You can’t leave Trevor (Harris, Ottawa’s quarterback) and their offensive staff on the field three times and extend drives with penalties on second down.

“Situationally, we’ve got to be better.”

Saskatchewan’s next game is Oct. 20 against the host Calgary Stampeders.

On Friday, Crapigna opened the scoring with a 33-yard field goal at 3:05 of the first quarter, but the Redblacks’ Brett Maher tied the score with a 38-yard field goal at 10:09.

Crapigna hit a 21-yard field goal at 1:40 and a 34-yarder at 6:10 to put Saskatchewan up 9-3 in the second quarter. The offence finally found the end zone at 12:38 when Glenn hit Kienan LaFrance with a six-yard touchdown pass. Crapigna added the convert and the Roughriders led 16-3.

The Redblacks replied on their next possession, as Harris completed five passes for 59 yards, including a 12-yard scoring toss to Diontae Spencer. Maher’s convert made it 16-10 and that was the score at halftime.

Saskatchewan accepted the kickoff to start the second half and drove 62 yards in four plays. But the march stalled at the Ottawa 10-yard line and Crapigna kicked an 18-yard field goal at 2:47 of the third quarter.

Two plays after Maher kicked a 48-yard field goal at 6:06, Redblacks safety Antoine Pruneau speared a Glenn pass at the Saskatchewan 46-yard line and returned it for a touchdown at 7:12. Maher’s convert gave the Redblacks a 20-19 lead.

The Roughriders responded on their next possession with a 35-yard Crapigna field goal at 10:23 of the third quarter, which ended with Saskatchewan marching from its own 30-yard line into Redblacks territory.

On the first play of the fourth, the Roughriders gambled on third-and-two from the Ottawa 13-yard line — and Trent Richardson needed an extra lunge to get the first down.

On the next play, Glenn threw an 11-yard touchdown pass to Caleb Holley at 1:08. After Crapigna added the convert, Saskatchewan led 29-20.

The lead grew to 32-20 at 9:11 of the fourth on a 14-yard field goal by Crapigna, but the Redblacks replied with a nine-play, 68-yard drive that culminated in an 11-yard TD pass from Harris to Greg Ellingson.

The march included an eight-yard pass from Maher to Jake Harty on a fake punt and a roughing-the-passer penalty on A.C. Leonard that wiped out a Henoc Muamba interception.

After the Roughriders were forced to punt, the Redblacks drove for the game-winning score. That possession included two successful third-down gambles and a pass-interference penalty in the end zone — a call that preceded Lindley’s TD. 

Glenn, who had been pulled from the Toronto game after just four possessions, completed 29 of 39 pass attempts for 387 yards with two TDs and two interceptions Friday. His main target was Duron Carter, who had 11 catches for 231 yards — a total that put him over 1,000 yards for the season.

Roughriders receiver Naaman Roosevelt, who was playing his second game after returning from a concussion, left Friday’s game in the third quarter after hitting his head on the turf. He had three catches for 29 yards before departing.

Harris was 17-for-33 passing for 262 yards. Dominique Rhymes had three catches for 85 yards for Ottawa (7-9-1).

“At the end of the day, we can’t kill ourselves and make mistakes against a good football team,” Saskatchewan cornerback Jovon Johnson said. “They played well down the stretch and they made enough plays to win the game.

“Were they the better team tonight? Probably not, but at the end of the day, they made enough plays to win the game.”