September 22, 2018

Brett Lauther kicks the Riders into second place

TORONTO — Brett Lauther’s legend continues to grow.

Lauther kicked a 56-yard field goal with 1:14 left in regulation time Saturday to provide the winning points in the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ 30-29 CFL victory over the Toronto Argonauts at BMO Field.

“I was just trying to keep everything the same, but I was pretty excited after that one,” Lauther told reporters. “I’ve been playing with a lot of emotion after the last few years of being told no, that ‘You’re not good enough’ or something like that.

“The guys were great out there tonight. I got a chance to win the game for us and it worked out.”

The Roughriders weren’t surprised; Lauther has been outstanding in his first season in Saskatchewan.

“You can’t say enough about him,” head coach-GM Chris Jones said. “He has kicked well for us all year. He’s got big nerves. It doesn’t faze him to kick in those types of situations.”

“We know he can do it.”

The Roughriders trailed Toronto 28-27 when they started a drive with 4:07 left in the fourth quarter. Quarterback Zach Collaros moved the Roughriders to the Toronto 36-yard line, but a one-yard loss on a run and an intentional-grounding call on Collaros left Saskatchewan in a third-down situation from the Argos’ 48.

“(I thought) ‘How could you be so stupid? We’ve gone over the scenario a million times since high school,’ ” Collaros said of the penalty. “It was a good call. I didn’t get the ball back to the line of scrimmage and it was just stupidity by me. Brett bailed me out.”

The kick matched Lauther’s longest of the season; he also hit from 56 yards on July 28 against the Calgary Stampeders.

“We know he can do it,” slotback Naaman Roosevelt said. “He does it in practice, he does it during games — he’s one of the best kickers on the scene. He always comes through for us.

Toronto’s Zack Medeiros nearly answered Lauther’s heroics with some of his own Saturday, but he missed a 51-yard field-goal attempt with two seconds left in regulation time.

As a result, Saskatchewan improved to 8-5-0 and pulled into sole possession of second place in the West Division. The Roughriders moved two points clear of the Edmonton Eskimos, who fell to 7-6-0 after a 28-15 loss to the host Ottawa Redblacks on Saturday.

Saskatchewan is to visit the Montreal Alouettes on Sept. 30.

Lauther found employment with the Roughriders this season after a number of tryouts with other teams in recent years. He’s now 39-for-42 on field-goal attempts in 2018.

“He’s a guy who has continued to work,” Jones said. “I’m very proud of him. He was with us a year or so ago. He had that great strong leg, but he didn’t have near the accuracy.

“He has put the work in and it’s pleasant to see a guy who puts the work in and cares about football being rewarded.”

The Roughriders took full advantage of a Toronto miscue to open the scoring at the 6:00 mark of Saturday’s first quarter.

Lauther missed a 43-yard field-goal attempt and Will Likely ran the ball out of the end zone rather than concede a single. But the Argos were offside on the third-and-two play to give the Roughriders a first down — and two plays later, Collaros hit Jordan Williams-Lambert with a five-yard touchdown pass.

Lauther added the convert and Saskatchewan led 7-0.

The Roughriders’ kicker booted a 22-yard field goal at 9:08 to make it 10-0, four plays after Loucheiz Purifoy picked off a McLeod Bethel-Thompson pass.

The Argos (3-9-0) took advantage of their own miscue to get on the board at 13:57 of the opening frame.

On a third-and-four from the Saskatchewan 30, the Argos attempted a fake field goal that didn’t work. But they were flagged pre-snap for illegal procedure, allowing them to keep the ball. On the do-over, Medeiros kicked a 42-yard field goal to cut the Roughriders’ lead to 10-3.

Medeiros tied the game at 4:12 of the second quarter when he converted James Franklin’s one-yard TD run. The major was set up by a 56-yard pass from Bethel-Thompson to S.J. Green that put the ball on the Roughriders’ one-yard line.

The tie just lasted 44 seconds.

On the first play after the kickoff, Roughriders tailback Marcus Thigpen took a handoff and went 82 yards for a touchdown. Lauther added the convert to give the Roughriders a 17-10 lead.

It was Saskatchewan’s longest touchdown run since Pete Van Valkenburg scored on a 90-yard run in a game versus Calgary in 1976.

After a 67-yard punt single by Medeiros at 8:16, Collaros found Williams-Lambert for a 12-yard touchdown at 10:09 — giving the Roughriders multiple TD passes in a game for the first time this season. Lauther added the convert.

Medeiros kicked a 48-yard field goal on the final play of the first half to cut the Roughriders’ lead to 24-14.

The Argos’ kicker made it a one-score game at 5:38 of the third quarter when he kicked a 22-yard field goal, but Lauther answered with a 23-yarder at 8:24 to restore Saskatchewan’s 10-point advantage.

Medeiros hoofed a 21-yard field goal at 12:53 to cut the lead to 27-20, and then converted Trumaine Washington’s 61-yard interception return for a TD on the final play of the third quarter to knot the score.

Medeiros kicked a 49-yard single on a missed field goal at 10:53 of the fourth to put Toronto ahead 28-27, setting the stage for Lauther’s game-winning field goal.

The Argos had a chance for more in the last minute, but Bethel-Thompson’s heave to a wide-open Green with no safety in the middle of the defence fell incomplete. On the next play, Medeiros missed his potential game-winner.

“We were in cover zero and the (defensive) guys switched; both of them jumped one guy and left one guy open,” Jones said. “It’s not the first time that has happened in the history of football and it certainly won’t be the last.

“We wanted to send pressure and I said, ‘If we’re going to lose this game, it’s going to be because we’re going after somebody. We’re not going to sit back.’ ”

Collaros was 14-for-25 passing for 233 yards. His favourite target was Roosevelt, who caught five passes for 105 yards. Thigpen added 95 yards rushing on four carries.

Bethel-Thompson completed 32 of 44 pass attempts for 321 yards, with Green catching six passes for 106 yards.

Mike Edem and Sam Eguavoen each had eight defensive tackles for the Roughriders, who got seven stops from Cameron Judge.