Rock and roll will be a component of the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ home opener — an event that, once upon a time, included Rock and Roell.
Rock Preston and his brother, Roell, made their Taylor Field debuts with the Green and White on July 6, 2001, when the Roughriders rallied for a 30-28 CFL victory over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
As for 2023, renowned rocker Kim Mitchell is to perform at halftime June 16 when the Roughriders kick off their 2023 regular-season home schedule against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in what is being billed as Dad’s Night Out.
(CLICK HERE for far more information on the home opener and the accompanying fatherly festivities.)
If history is any indication, it would be inadvisable to leave early and, say, go for a soda.
Even if the outcome seems to be a parent on Dad’s Night Out, keep in mind that the resourceful Roughriders have been known to find a way to pull out an improbable, dramatic victory in the home opener.
Several games of that description come to mind, along with other scenarios, as a seasoned scribe’s mind rewinds to other classic contests.
So here, without further preamble, is a subjective ranking of the Roughriders’ top 10 home openers. We will leave it to you, the discerning reader, to determine whether this list provides more illumination than a patio lantern.
#1. JULY 1, 2010
Talk about Canada Day fireworks!
The Roughriders and Montreal Alouettes, in a rematch of the 2009 Grey Cup game, produced a double-overtime dandy to ignite the 2010 CFL season.
Saskatchewan shrugged off a 33-12 third-quarter deficit and ultimately won 54-51.
The Roughriders forced overtime when Darian Durant hit Andy Fantuz for a five-yard touchdown pass with 32 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. Luca Congi’s convert created a 40-40 deadlock.
On the first overtime possession, the teams traded touchdowns and two-point converts.
Montreal then got a 42-yard field goal by Damon Duval, who had kicked the game-winning three-pointer in the 2009 Grey Cup game, to go ahead 51-48.
The Roughriders answered with a game-winning, three-yard touchdown pass from Durant to Weston Dressler.
Durant threw for 478 yards and a career-high five touchdowns. Alouettes quarterback Anthony Calvillo put up 368 aerial yards and four scores.
(Dad’s Night Out trivia: Durant’s first child, Amayah Taylor, was named after Taylor Field.)
#2. JULY 12, 1989
The Roughriders trailed 26-6 after three quarters, but nonetheless shocked the Calgary Stampeders 32-29 to kick-start what proved to be a championship season.
Tom Burgess, in relief of starter Kent Austin, threw three fourth-quarter touchdown passes.
(Dad’s Night Out trivia: Austin’s father, Bill, was seventh in Heisman Trophy voting in 1958. Bill Austin was a college football star at Rutgers.)
Burgess found Ray Elgaard for a 35-yarder before connecting with Don Narcisse for scores of 11 and 42 yards.
The 42-yarder, on third-and-10, was preceded by an onside-kick recovery and followed by a Dave Ridgway convert that tied the game at 29-29 with 1:26 left in the fourth quarter.
The Stampeders’ next possession ended abruptly when cornerback Harry Skipper forced a fumble by receiver Larry Willis. Jeff Treftlin — a 5-foot-9, 170-pound defensive back who was pressed into emergency duty at linebacker due to injuries — recovered the fumble.
Six plays later, Ridgway kicked a game-winning, 42-yard field goal on the final play.
It was Ridgway who tied a bow on the Roughriders’ 1989 season by kicking a 35-yard field goal with two seconds remaining to give his team a 43-40 Grey Cup victory over Hamilton. Austin was named the game’s offensive MVP after throwing for 474 yards and three TDs.
(Dad’s Night Out trivia: The Roughriders’ roster in 1989 included offensive lineman Mark Urness, whose father Ted was on the team’s executive committee at the time. Twenty-three years earlier, to the very day, Ted Urness was the starting centre when Saskatchewan registered its first Grey Cup win. Also in 1989, Ted Urness and his father, Al, were jointly inducted into the Plaza of Honour. Al Urness played for the Regina Roughriders in the Grey Cup games of 1928, 1929, 1930 and 1931.)
The victory in 1989 vaulted the Roughriders into a tie with the Sarnia Imperials in all-time Grey Cup victories (two).
Sarnia, Ont., is the birthplace of Kim Mitchell.
#3. JULY 8, 1994
The Doug Flutie-quarterbacked Stampeders appeared to be cruising to a season-opening victory at Taylor Field.
But the resilient Roughriders had other ideas, ultimately winning 22-21, a mere two days before Kim Mitchell’s 42nd birthday.
Saskatchewan did not get on the board until 8:53 of the third quarter, when Ridgway kicked a 13-yard field goal to make it 21-3.
Ridgway added two more field goals before Saskatchewan finally scored a touchdown — on a 62-yard fumble return with 2:26 remaining in the game. Defensive lineman Richard Glover retrieved a Blair Zerr fumble and rumbled 14 yards before pitching the ball to defensive back Dale Joseph, who went the rest of the way.
Only 50 seconds remained when the Roughriders began their final possession, a daunting 83 yards away from the Calgary goal line. A 50-yard reception by Larry Thompson set the table for a 15-yard touchdown pass from Burgess to Narcisse on the final play.
#4. AUG. 9, 1974
The Roughriders threw a block party to celebrate their 1974 home opener — a 24-23 victory over Edmonton.
With just under two minutes left in the fourth quarter, Lorne Richardson blocked a 41-yard field goal attempt by Edmonton’s Dave Cutler, preserving Saskatchewan’s one-point lead. The Roughriders’ offence then ran out the clock while relying on clutch carries by (who else?) George Reed.
Bobby Thompson scored two Saskatchewan touchdowns. He reached pay dirt on a 10-yard pass from Ron Lancaster and a one-yard run. Lancaster also found Peter Watson for a 75-yard major.
Saskatchewan had trailed 20-10 before Lancaster’s toss to Thompson narrowed the gap considerably.
A 19-yard field goal by Cutler gave Edmonton a 23-17 lead, but the Roughriders responded with a nine-play, 75-yard touchdown march that was punctuated by Thompson’s second major of the day. Brian Berg’s convert put Saskatchewan ahead to stay.
#5. JULY 12, 1990
In a rematch of the 1989 Grey Cup game, the Roughriders again beat Hamilton by three points — 38-35.
Milson Jones crossed the goal line with the game-winning touchdown with 59 seconds left. He scored on a 35-yard draw play.
Jones capped an 86-yard drive that was preceded by a Larry Hogue interception.
#6. JULY 6, 2001
More Hamilton heartbreak.
The Tiger-Cats held leads of 19-3, 22-10 and 25-13 before the Roughriders came back to win 30-28.
Paul McCallum kicked a game-winning, 40-yard field goal with three seconds left in the fourth quarter.
Curtis Marsh caught two fourth-quarter touchdown passes from Roughriders quarterback Marvin Graves. Marsh scored from 38 yards away two minutes into the final frame and added a 25-yarder at 7:30.
Paul Osbaldiston countered with a 35-yard field goal that gave Hamilton a 28-27 lead with just 48 seconds in the game.
But Marsh soon struck again, and again, hauling in Graves aerials for gains of 32 and 11 to set up McCallum’s climactic kick.
(Dad’s Night Out trivia: Marsh’s son, Curtis Jr., was an NFL cornerback from 2011 to 2015. Curtis Jr.’s brother, Cassius, was an NFL defensive end from 2014 to 2021.)
Rock Preston, by the way, carried the ball five times for 26 yards in the 2001 home opener.
Roell Preston caught two passes for 52 yards.
(Dad’s Night Out trivia: The 2001 home opener kicked off Lancaster’s third season as the Tiger-Cats’ head coach. His offensive co-ordinator: Ron Lancaster Jr.)
#7. JUNE 25, 2006
The Roughriders scored two touchdowns in the final minute to defeat the B.C. Lions 32-24.
With 54 seconds left, Kerry Joseph found Jamel Richardson for a 49-yard pass-and-run touchdown. Congi’s convert put the Roughriders ahead 24-23.
Just 17 seconds later, Saskatchewan’s Eddie Davis crossed the goal line on a 34-yard interception return. The game-clinching pick was set up when Roughriders defensive lineman Terrell Jurineack pressured B.C. quarterback Dave Dickenson into an errant throw.
#8. AUG. 3, 1969
The Roughriders scored 11 unanswered points late in the fourth quarter to eke out a 22-20 victory over B.C.
For starters, a 34-yard field goal by Abendschan reduced B.C.’s lead to 20-14.
On the Lions’ next possession, blitzing linebacker Wayne Shaw rocked Lions quarterback Paul Brothers and forced a fumble, which Saskatchewan’s Ken Reed recovered on the visitors’ 11-yard line.
On second down, Lancaster found Silas McKinnie for an 11-yard major to create a 20-20 tie. Abendschan’s convert provided what proved to be the winning point.
Alan Ford added a 34-yard punt single on the game’s penultimate play.
(Dad’s Night Out trivia: Ford’s grandson, Jaxon, is expected to be chosen in the 2023 CFL draft. Jaxon Ford, son of Rob Ford, is a safety with the University of Regina Rams.)
#9. AUG. 7, 1964
The Roughriders overcame a 14-1 deficit en route to defeating Winnipeg 37-29.
George Fleming kicked a 55-yard field goal — then the longest in Canadian pro football history — to help Winnipeg assume its early lead.
But then Lancaster, making his first start in a Roughriders home opener, got on a roll.
He completed 17 of 22 passes for 326 yards and three touchdowns. Each scoring pass was caught by Hugh Campbell.
(Dad’s Night Out trivia: Campbell’s son, Rick, is now the Lions’ head coach.)
Saskatchewan scored all three third-quarter touchdowns, courtesy of an 88-yard kickoff return — on which Dick Cohee accepted a lateral from Ed Buchanan and sprinted to the end zone — and two passes to Campbell.
Cue a frantic fourth quarter in which the teams took turns scoring touchdowns.
Ron Latourelle scored for Winnipeg on a fumble return, but Campbell soon countered with his third TD.
Winnipeg responded with a 34-yard scoring strike from Ken Ploen to Ernie Pitts.
The Roughriders began their next possession with back-to-back first downs, whereupon Lancaster was sacked. On second-and-27, he crossed up the Blue Bombers’ defence by calling for a draw play. Reed ran 38 yards for what proved to be the winning major at 9:41 of the fourth quarter.
(What is it about draw plays and home openers? See also: 1990.)
Gerry James, who converted Reed’s score, added a 20-yard field goal at 12:44, following an interception by Bob Ptacek.
(Dad’s Night Out trivia: James’ father, Eddie, starred for the Roughriders from 1928 to 1931 — one of his teammates being Al Urness. Eddie James, nicknamed Dynamite, was among the Canadian Football Hall of Fame’s charter inductees in 1963.)
#10. AUG. 21, 1958
Former Saskatoon Hilltops star Ron Adam, making a rare start at quarterback for the Roughriders, piloted the Green and White to a 21-13 victory over Winnipeg.
The Roughriders, who were 1-1 after playing their first two games on the road, overcame a sluggish start. They went ahead 14-13 late in the fourth quarter when Jack Hill converted his own touchdown — a 58-yard pass-and-run connection with Adam.
Adam subsequently spotted a wide-open Mike Hagler in the end zone on a third-down pass to provide some breathing room.
Late in the game, Ploen marched the Blue Bombers into scoring range, but his final pass was knocked down in the end zone as time expired.
On a Thursday evening, the Blue Bombers were left to bemoan the fact that a victory wasn’t “In The Stars Tonight” (Kim Mitchell, 2007).
