MONTREAL — Dan Clark sounded the alarm Sunday.
The Saskatchewan Roughriders’ veteran centre was pleased that his team defeated the Montreal Alouettes 34-29 in a CFL game at Percival Molson Stadium, but he wasn’t impressed with the way his team did it.
“We need to come out as a team and establish dominance from the jump,” Clark said. “That’s something that we’ve got to do week in and week out. We have a long road to go and we face some very good teams, but we’ve got to come out quick and build that dominance in all three phases.”
In Clark’s mind, that was lacking Sunday. Saskatchewan entered the game with an 8-5-0 record, five games better than the Als. But Montreal got the first score and stayed close throughout.
“We can’t have these anymore,” Clark continued. “We need to come out from the jump and just put it on people. We’ve got a lot of good defences and a lot of good teams that we’re going against in the next couple of weeks that we need to come out focused for.”
The Roughriders improved to 9-5-0 and took a four-point lea
d over the Edmonton Eskimos and Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the race for second place in the West Division. The Eskimos are 7-7-0 after Saturday’s 30-3 loss to the visiting Bombers, who improved to 7-7-0.
Saskatchewan still has games against both of those teams. The Eskimos visit Regina on Oct. 8 and the Roughriders travel to Winnipeg for a game on Oct. 13.
The loss Sunday dropped the Als to 3-11-0.
Saskatchewan had opportunities to bury the Alouettes, but an interception in the red zone cost the Roughriders on one possession and a special-teams letdown allowed Montreal to score a punt-return touchdown.
“They were very opportunistic in what they got …,” Roughriders head coach-GM Chris Jones said. “We unfortunately made errors that resulted in points for them which made the game remain close.”
The Alouettes got on the board first, as Antonio Pipkin scored on a one-yard touchdown run at 6:51 of the opening quarter. Boris Bede added the convert to give Montreal a 7-0 lead.
The TD was scored four plays after a successful challenge by Montreal head coach Mike Sherman.
Jesse Joseph popped the ball out of the throwing hand of Zach Collaros, but officials initially called it an incomplete pass. The CFL’s Command Centre overturned that call, giving Montreal a first down at the Roughriders’ 32-yard line.
Saskatchewan replied on its next possession, driving 83 yards in six plays — the last of which was Tre Mason’s 27-run touchdown run. Brett Lauther’s convert tied the score at 10:07.
Mason’s first TD in the CFL was set up in part by a 26-yard pass from Collaros to Kenny Shaw on a second-and-17 play from the Roughriders’ 46-yard line.
The Roughriders took a 13-7 lead on the final play of the first quarter, when Collaros connected with Kyran Moore on a 23-yard TD pass. Lauther missed the convert.
The major — Moore’s first scoring reception after two punt-return TDs — was preceded by a 25-yard strike from Collaros to Shaq Evans on second-and-20.
Montreal took the lead at 1:26 of the second quarter, when Johnny Manziel found Adarius Bowman with a 47-yard touchdown pass on a trick play. The Als ran a double reverse with a pitch back to Manziel, who found Bowman uncovered downfield.
Bede kicked the convert and the Als led 14-13.
An 18-yard field goal by Bede at 6:12 made it 17-13, but the Roughriders regained the lead at 12:30 on Nick Marshall’s one-yard run. Collaros found Jordan Williams-Lambert for a two-point convert to give Saskatchewan a 21-17 advantage.
Lauther’s 35-yard field goal at 13:37 completed the first-half scoring.
Saskatchewan built on its lead on its first possession of the second half, driving 77 yards in eight plays — the last of which was a one-yard TD plunge by Marshall. Lauther kicked the convert to give the Roughriders a 31-17 lead.
Stefan Logan’s 74-yard punt return for a touchdown at 14:21 of the third quarter made it 31-23 — Bede missed the convert — and that’s the way the fourth quarter started.
Saskatchewan was driving on its first possession of the final frame, but a tipped pass was intercepted by Henoc Muamba. Four plays later, Manziel eluded an attempted sack by DB Jovon Johnson and threw a 21-yard TD pass to Ernest Jackson.
On the ensuing two-point convert attempt, Manziel scrambled and tried to dive into the end zone, but he was ruled down at the one-yard line. The Roughriders led 31-29 at 5:58 of the fourth.
Saskatchewan made it a five-point game on Lauther’s 23-yard field goal at 10:46 and, after the defence forced a Montreal two-and-out, the offence killed the game’s final three minutes with an impressive drive that generated three first downs.
“A lot has to do with the character and the makeup of our football team,” Jones said of the final drive. “They believe in one another. We’re getting stronger physically and mentally down the stretch, so hopefully we can keep it rolling.”
Collaros was 29-for-41 passing for 394 yards, his first 300-yard game since July 15, 2017, when he was with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. Moore (nine catches, 126 yards) and Evans (six receptions, 114 yards) had big receiving games for the Roughriders, who got 86 yards on 13 carries from Mason.
Manziel was 9-for-16 passing for 138 yards and threw the first two TD passes of his CFL career.
