The Saskatchewan Roughriders are staying home.
With a 35-16 CFL victory over the B.C. Lions on Saturday at Mosaic Stadium, the Roughriders guaranteed themselves a home playoff game for the first time since 2013.
“It’s big,” centre Brendon LaBatte said of the accomplishment. “That’s the goal when you set out at the start of the season.
“You can think back to before the second bye week and it wasn’t looking so good to even be in the playoffs let alone host a playoff game. It was ‘Just keep battling away.’ We never lost sight of what we were trying to do and that was host a home playoff game.”
The Roughriders had a 3-4-0 record when they went into their second bye week of the regular season. Since then, Saskatchewan has gone 9-2-0 and enters its third bye week with a 12-6-0 mark.
The thing is, the Roughriders don’t know in which West Division playoff game they’ll be playing.
The Calgary Stampeders have a 12-5-0 record and play host to the Lions (9-8-0) next Saturday during the final week of the regular season.
If B.C. wins, Saskatchewan will finish first in the division and will play host to the Western Final on Nov. 18. If Calgary wins, the Roughriders will finish second and will stage the Western Semi-Final on Nov. 11 and the Stampeders will play host to the division final on the 18th.
The uncertainty doesn’t matter to Saskatchewan head coach-GM Chris Jones.
“You prepare like you’re playing in the first week and if something else happens, then it happens,” he said. “You control what you can control and whatever happens, happens.”
The Roughriders go into their final bye week with some uncertainty at the quarterback position.
Starter Zach Collaros left Saturday’s game early in the second quarter, suffering the effects of a hit he absorbed from Lions defensive end Odell Willis late in the first quarter.
Jones said Collaros “should be fine,” but the veteran pivot was pulled for safety’s sake.
“He took a good shot,” Jones said. “It was a headgear-to-headgear shot. Out of precautionary reasons, our trainers thought it was best to take him out of the football game.”
The outcome of the weekend’s games answered some questions in the West Division.
“When we lock in, focus up and believe in one another, that’s the result…”
Either Calgary — which lost 29-21 to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers on Friday — or Saskatchewan will finish first. The Bombers (10-7-0) will place third, no matter what happens when they face the Edmonton Eskimos (8-9-0) next Saturday. B.C. will finish fourth and will cross over into the East Division playoffs. Edmonton won’t advance to the post-season.
The Roughriders, meanwhile, have put together their first 12-win season since 2008.
“Looking at the progress that the team has made in the Jones era, from 5-and-13 (in 2016) to 10-and-8 last year to 12-and-6 this year, we just keep climbing that mountain and keep getting better and better,” defensive tackle Eddie Steele said. “To secure a home playoff game for the first time since 2013 is special for the team and the province.”
Brett Lauther handled the scoring in the first quarter Saturday, connecting on 45- and 36-yard field goals. Tre Mason opened the second quarter with a seven-yard touchdown run at 23 seconds, a major that was converted by Lauther. 
The touchdown came three plays after Tobi Antigha intercepted a Travis Lulay pass that had been tipped at the line of scrimmage by Willie Jefferson. The pick set up the Roughriders at the Lions’ 34-yard line.
On the first play after the interception, Willis was flagged for roughing Collaros. It was reminiscent of a hit Willis laid on Collaros on July 4, 2014, when Willis was a member of the Eskimos and Collaros played for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
Collaros was put on the six-game injured list after that hit. On Saturday, he stayed in the game — until after Mason’s scoring run. The quarterback was then taken into the Roughriders’ locker room for observation.
“It’s Odell playing football,” said Jones, who was Edmonton’s coach four seasons ago. “It’s not like he had any intentions or any ill will. Odell’s a friend of mine, he’s a good football player, he’s a Hall of Famer and it was an unfortunate hit.”
A pair of singles by the Lions’ Ty Long completed the first-half scoring.
The second half didn’t begin well for the Roughriders.
Loucheiz Purifoy fumbled the kickoff and the Lions recovered at Saskatchewan’s 44-yard line. On the next play, Lulay found Bryan Burnham for a touchdown that Long converted to cut the Roughriders’ lead to 16-9.
After Long conceded a safety at 4:52 of the third quarter, Roughriders defensive tackle Zack Evans stretched the lead to 24-9 at 6:52 when he recovered a Lulay fumble at the B.C. one-yard line and fell into the end zone.
The fumble was forced by Jefferson, who knocked the ball out of Lulay’s right hand as the quarterback attempted a throw. Lauther added the convert to make it 25-9.
The Roughriders’ next score allowed them to tie a CFL record.
Ed Gainey intercepted a Lulay pass and returned it 41 yards for a touchdown, giving Saskatchewan a record-tying 11 defensive TDs in a season. Lauther added the convert to put the Roughriders ahead 32-9.
Cody Fajardo’s one-yard run, Long’s convert and Lauther’s fourth field goal of the game rounded out the scoring.
Cameron Marshall was the offensive star for the Roughriders, gaining 134 yards on 19 carries after Mason left with a leg injury. Collaros (5-for-8, 52 yards) and Brandon Bridge (4-for-9, 44 yards) combined for 96 yards passing for Saskatchewan.
Lulay was 9-for-20 passing for 94 yards before giving way to Jonathon Jennings, who went 5-for-8 for 61 yards. Tyrell Sutton rushed 12 times for 50 yards for B.C.
“When we lock in, focus up and believe in one another, that’s the result,” Gainey said. “That’s pretty much what we expected.
