Pick 6 Paves Rider Road To Victory
Trailing 9-7, the Lions were poised to take a lead to the locker room before halftime when Jeremiah Masoli- once again pressed into starting duty in place of Nathan Rourke- tossed an interception to TeVaughn Campbell that was returned 89 yards for a house call to put the home team up 16-7. Another frustrating twist to that sequence was a touchdown for Justin McInnis being called back due to an offside penalty. It was indeed another night of missed opportunities.
If that didn’t seem enough like the TSN Turning Point, Saskatchewan then grounded and pounded their way for a 69-yard scoring drive to open the second half, one that took up nearly eight minutes. The pick-six and clock-killing series amounted to at least a 16-point swing after the Lions were well into field goal range.
Masoli finished the night 16/29 for 173 yards, one touchdown strike to Keon Hatcher Sr. and three interceptions. He owned his mistakes after the game.
“That’s a tough one, that one stings. There’s really not too much to say besides I know it’s a team game, but I’ve got to play better,” he said.
“You can’t really be turning the ball over at the end of the half like that. I’ve just got to play better, point blank, period. We had our defence playing lights out and we were able to move the ball, but kind of like last week, we weren’t able to put it in the end zone. That’s on me, that’s on us and we’ve got to figure it out.”
On a night where Jake Maier was behind centre, Saskatchewan’s offensive leader was A.J. Ouellette out of the backfield as he ran the ball 23 times for 139 yards and scored the major on the long series to open the second half. A balanced football team was what they demonstrated in this contest.
There is still plenty of football to play, but they have to turn the ship around quickly before they lose too much ground. With two undefeated teams in the West in Saskatchewan and Winnipeg, the room for error closes each passing week. The Riders travel to Save-On-Foods Field at BC Place for the Watermelon Smash in three weeks.
Key Numbers
38:35– as you might expect, the home side owned the time of possession in this contest.
16– total points off turnovers for the opportunistic Roughriders in this contest.
14- the Lions took 14 accepted penalties for a total of 125 yards
123- a season-high in rushing yards on 17 carries for James Butler, who added a touchdown in the late stages. Butler’s big 38-yard run helped set up Hatcher’s major early in the second quarter on what was a 97-yard scoring drive.
3– quarterback sacks recorded by the Lions: a pair for Mathieu Betts and one by Tibo Debaillie.
Injuries Piling Up
The visitors lost a few key guys along the way as Betts (arm), DeWayne Hendrix (hamstring), Tyler Packer (head) and Tyler Coyle (hamstring) all didn’t finish. Buck Pierce wasn’t able to provide any further details after the loss.
Quotables
“You’ve got to have a sense of urgency. In this league, going down 1-3, especially in the Western Conference, which is the hardest conference to play in, we need to have a sense of urgency. I’m not saying we need to hit the panic button yet, but we’ve got to lock in on more details across the board.”- Veteran Garry Peters to MOJ and Giulio on the 730 CKNW post-game show.
“I think you look at it, but it’s tough in that situation. I told the guys in the locker room ‘Listen, we always look forward.’ I believe guys took the field and flushed that stuff, but it’s something we’ve got to learn from. It’s too often we’re learning from those right now. We’ve just got to get it fixed.”- Buck Pierce on the key interception before halftime.
Next Up
The Lions are back on the road for a clash with the Montreal Alouettes next Saturday, July 5 at Percival Molson Stadium. Kickoff is 4:00 pm PT. The 2-1 Alouettes dropped a 35-17 decision in Hamilton on Friday night.