The Saskatchewan Roughriders were just one stop away from starting a victory celebration.
With 1:26 remaining in Saturday’s CFL game at Mosaic Stadium, the Toronto Argonauts were in a third-and-10 predicament on their 44-yard line.
On second-and-10, Roughriders defensive lineman Anthony Lanier II had knocked down, and nearly intercepted, a pass by Cameron Dukes.
The Roughriders were that close to essentially securing a victory that would have sustained their hopes of making the playoffs.
But then Dukes found Richie Sindani for 27 yards. Three plays later, the Argonauts scored what proved to be the winning touchdown and soon nailed down a 29-26 victory that improved their record to 15-2.
“Key stops … we couldn’t stop people when we needed to,” Head Coach Craig Dickenson lamented after the Roughriders finished the season at 6-12 and on a seven-game losing streak.
“That’s tough.”
The Argonauts’ previous possession had concluded with an unsuccessful third-and-five gamble on Saskatchewan’s 14-yard line.
Leading 26-22, the Roughriders then moved the ball 26 yards in seven plays before Adam Korsak launched a 55-yard punt.
Starting from their 28-yard line, the Argonauts drove 82 yards in eight plays — including the critical completion to Sindani — and punctuated the possession with a five-yard TD run by Daniel Adeboboye.
After a 24-yard kickoff return by Mario Alford gave Saskatchewan the ball on its 45-yard line, Jake Dolegala was intercepted by Mason Pierce with 46 seconds remaining.
“Bad read,” Dolegala said after throwing for a career-high 429 yards.
“The corners were playing well. They were baiting me into some stuff. I knew we needed to push the ball a little bit. I knew we had some time on the clock and we only needed a field goal.
“I thought the window was there and (Pierce) made a really good play.”
Dolegala produced an assortment of big plays, such as completions of 51, 44, 39, 35, 29 and 26 yards during an entertaining game in which the teams combined for 1,006 yards of net offence. Toronto outgained Saskatchewan 557 to 449 before 24,158 spectators on Fan Appreciation Day.
“We had a lot of explosives,” Dolegala said. “I thought we did decent in the red zone, but we turned the ball over.”
The Roughriders opened the scoring with a touchdown on their first possession — a 16-yard strike from Dolegala to Kian Schaffer-Baker just 1:40 into the game. Brett Lauther added the convert.
Toronto tied the game 8:39 into the opening quarter when Alfredo Gachuz Lozada converted a three-yard TD run by A.J. Ouellette.
Lauther’s 31-yard field goal at 12:16 gave Saskatchewan a 10-7 first-quarter lead.
Dolegala struck again at 4:27 of the second quarter when he threw a 35-yard TD pass to Samuel Emilus. Lauther converted.
Gachuz Lozada pared the Roughriders’ lead to 17-10 with a 17-yard field goal at 12:12 of the second quarter.
Toronto followed up with a 50-yard TD pass from Chad Kelly to Damonte Coxie, who scored with 56 seconds left in the first half. The convert attempt was unsuccessful.
Gachuz Lozada opened the second-half scoring with a 21-yard field goal, giving Toronto a 19-17 lead at 2:57 of the third quarter.
The Roughriders responded with a 12-play, 70-yard drive that was punctuated by a one-yard TD run by short-yardage quarterback Antonio Pipkin at 9:32 of the third quarter.
The Argos narrowed the gap to one point when Gachuz Lozada kicked a 33-yard field goal 1:10 into the fourth quarter.
Lauther’s 48-yard field goal, at 3:28, expanded the Roughriders’ lead to 26-22.
Toronto assumed its first lead when Adeboboye scored with 57 seconds left. Gachuz Lozada’s convert gave Toronto a 29-26 advantage. Then came the pick by Pierce.
Now comes the uncertainty.
“At the end of the day, it’s all on me, like I said probably a month ago,” Dickenson said after the Roughriders’ second successive 6-12 season. “It was a different team, but we didn’t win any more games.
“We felt like the formula was to get a little better character-wise and I felt we did. We tried to put a little more emphasis on the offensive line, which I felt we did, but it didn’t translate into wins.
“So, at the end of the day, this season was a failure. We didn’t get to where we wanted to, which was getting into the playoffs and competing for a championship.
“We weren’t able to do that, so give us an F on that.”
SHORT SNORTS
- Toronto can tie a CFL regular-season record for victories by defeating the host Ottawa REDBLACKS on Oct. 28. The Argonauts are looking to match Edmonton’s 16-2 slate from 1989, if not the finish. In the 1989 West Division final, the 9-9 Roughriders won 32-21 at Commonwealth Stadium. One week later, Saskatchewan captured the second Grey Cup title in franchise history.
- Emilus had a team-high 137 yards on seven receptions. Shawn Bane Jr. added 136 yards on eight catches. Both of them eclipsed the 1,000-yard milestone for the first time as CFLers.
- Alford had five punt returns, giving him a Riders-record 89 for the season. Alford passed Willis Jacox, who returned 86 punts in 1991.
- Roughriders middle linebacker Larry Dean had four defensive tackles to finish the season with 104.
- Bryan Cox Jr. had two sacks, one of which forced a fumble that was recovered by fellow Roughriders defensive lineman Charbel Dabire.
- Defensive back Deontai Williams led the Roughriders on Saturday with nine defensive tackles, one of which was for a loss.
- T.J. Brunson paced the Roughriders in special teams tackles versus Toronto, with three.
