as the Saskatchewan Roughriders take on the Ottawa Red Blacks in CFL action in Regina, SK, September 28, 2024. Photo Electric Umbrella/Liam Richards
We begin today with the TSN Turning Point … I mean, the CTV Turning Point … anyway, you get the picture.
Just under 11 minutes remained in Saturday afternoon’s CFL game and the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ lead — one they had held since 3:35 of the first quarter — suddenly felt precarious.
The Ottawa REDBLACKS were forced to settle for a field goal after Keaton Bruggelling dropped what would have been a 19-yard touchdown pass from Jeremiah Masoli.
Denizens of Rider Nation breathed a momentary sigh of relief as Ward lined up for and, of course, made a 26-yarder that pared the home team’s advantage to 15-9 at Mosaic Stadium.
On the opening play of the ensuing series, Saskatchewan was flagged for holding. Needing 20 yards to move the yardsticks in what had become a one-possession game, the Roughriders did precisely that. Whew!
On first-and-20, quarterback Trevor Harris looked to rookie receiver Dhel Duncan-Busby along the left sideline.
It was a long throw — one that REDBLACKS defensive back Damon Webb, an erstwhile Roughrider, thought he had a chance of intercepting.
But Harris, true to form, put the ball right where it had to be. Duncan-Busby made a tremendous catch and headed toward the MaxTron for what soon became a 21-yard gain.
First down.
Four plays later, Thomas Bertrand-Hudon stormed 26 yards for what proved to be the Roughriders’ only touchdown in a 29-16 victory.
Bertrand-Hudon’s TD run will make all the highlight packages, and rightfully so, but there was not a bigger play over an intensely contested 60 minutes than Harris to Duncan-Busby for 21.
“The halfback (Webb) went to shoot it, so I lifted the ball a bit more,” Harris recounted after the Roughriders, winners of two in a row, improved their record to 7-7-1.
“I was hoping Dhel would hug the sideline a tad more and just kind of catch it and tap out of bounds for about 10 or 11 to kind of cut the chains in half, because on first-and-20, you just try and get half back and give yourself a chance on second down, so you’re not in second-and-extra-extra long.
“He didn’t expand, but the ball kind of lifted just how I probably anticipated with the halfback. It was a great break by Damon Webb.
“We lifted the ball just enough and (Duncan-Busby) kind of snatched it out of the air and kept his feet inbounds and went upfield and got a first down.
“It was a huge play in that drive.”
A huge play for anyone — let alone a rookie making his first professional start, and an auspicious one at that.
Saskatchewan’s third-round selection (23rd overall) in the 2024 CFL Draft, the former Bemidji State Beavers star caught seven passes for 92 yards on a sublimely perfect fall Saturday.
While surrounded by reporters in the Roughriders’ dressing room, he was asked about that first-and-20 game-changer.
“Honestly, Trevor just put it in a spot where only I could get it,” the 6-foot-3, 210-pounder said. “He trusted me and threw it up there. I grabbed it and I was just able to convert and get up-field.
“I feel like it was pretty big. We ended up scoring on that drive. Being able to do that and help the team out in the way that they needed was pretty nice.”
The toss to Duncan-Busby was the first of six consecutive completions that allowed Harris to finish the game at a razor-sharp 27-for-36.
He followed up by connecting with Sam Emilus (five yards), KeeSean Johnson (seven) and Emilus once more (21) before Bertrand-Hudon took off on his 26-yard scoring sprint. Harris then flipped a short-pass to Johnson for a the Roughriders’ first two-point convert of the season and their 97th since the option became available in 1975.
Bertrand-Hudon boasts the Roughriders’ longest TD run by a Canadian player since Nov. 5, 2015, Greg Morris scored on a 33-yarder against the host B.C. Lions.
Bertrand-Hudon also registered Saskatchewan’s fourth-longest run by a Canadian (quarterbacks and receivers excluded) since 2009.
June 27, 2015: Jerome Messam, 53-yard touchdown versus Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
Nov. 7, 2009: Chris Szarka, 36-yard run versus Calgary. (Szarka scored on a one-yard plunge on the next play.)
Nov. 5, 2015: Greg Morris, 33 yards, as mentioned.
June 28, 2024: Bertrand-Hudon, 26 yards (repeat).
But he wasn’t done yet.
On Saskatchewan’s next possession, Harris found Johnson for 53 before Bertrand-Hudon chewed up another 22 yards.
Until Saturday, a Canadian running back had not taken a handoff that far for the Roughriders since, once again, Morris in the 2016 finale.
Bertrand-Hudon, whom Saskatchewan drafted in the fourth round (30th overall) last year out of Delaware State, finished with a game-high 72 yards on nine carries.
He was promoted to front-line duty after Ryquell Armstead, coming off a 207-yard debut performance in Green and White, left the game due to injury early in Saturday’s third quarter.
“The O-line kept pushing all the time and we just kept going through the middle, basically,” Bertrand-Hudon said. “I just had to get my read right and break a tackle or two.
“That’s about it.”
