Roughriders improve to 4-0 with 41-33 win over Alouettes
REGINA - The Saskatchewan Roughriders are 4-0 for the first time since 1970 - 11 years before defensive back Lance Frazier was born.
Behind by two points with just over two minutes to play, Roughriders' defensive tackle Jimmy Verdon swatted a Montreal Alouettes pass into the hands Frazier to set up the touchdown that pulled the Riders ahead and on their way to a 41-33 victory Saturday night at Mosaic Stadium.
"I haven"t been 4-0 with any team since my sophomore year in high school," Frazier said. "That was 1997. This is huge and it's very emotional. Nobody gave us a chance and we're OK with that. We loved being the underdogs last year and look how that turned out.
Roughriders quarterback Darian Durant, who started his second game for Saskatchewan in his fourth season with the team, scored on a one-yard run to put his team ahead after Frazier's interception.
"It feels good," said Durant, who replaced injured starter Marcus Crandell for the second consecutive game and picked up the 33-28 win over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats last week. "We got the win and it was tough, but games like this help you build character and shows you where you are at as a team. We came out on top and that's the most important thing."
Durant completed 23 of 34 passes for 353 yards and three touchdowns. He threw two interceptions.
"I wish we didn't have to work that hard," Durant said. "We're a good team. I put a lot of blame on myself for those turnover that I had in crucial situations that gave Montreal the short field and they scored both times - that's 14 points off of turnovers and they definitely hurt us and made it a much closer ball game than it should have been."
The close game also disappointed Alouettes' quarterback Anthony Calvillo.
"I'm frustrated," said Calvillo, who completed 29 of 41 passes for 352 yards and four touchdowns. "It's always frustrating when you lose. You have to take care of the ball, you can't let interceptions happen. You can't let fumbles happen. That was the difference in the game today."
Roughriders running back Wes Cates said that the offence, defence and special teams came to play. "I think we have a hell of a team right now," said Cates, who had 15 carries for 107 yards and one touchdown.
"It looks like we're pretty much running on all cylinders. We take a little while to get started but once we get started it's hard stopping us."
Allouettes rookie head coach Marc Trestman said his team played hard all night.
"It was very physical game on both sides of the ball," said Trestman, whose team is now 2-2. "We did a number of things to put ourselves in position to win and we also put ourselves into a position where you saw the final result."
The game's first touchdown was called back after Roughriders' rookie head coach Ken Miller was successful on the first challenge of his CFL career. On the play, Durant threw a pass to Cates, who was immediately hit by Alouettes defensive back Chip Cox.
The ball popped loose and Montreal's Davis Sanchez scooped up the ball and raced 64 yards to the end zone. The play was reviewed and it was ruled that Cates didn't have possession of the ball.
Near the end of the first quarter, Alouettes' linebacker Reggie Hunt picked off a Durant pass. On the next play, Calvillo hit Kerry Watkins on a post pattern for a 32-yard touchdown for a 7-2 lead after Damon Duval's convert.
Hunt had a big game, recording eight tackles, one sack and two interceptions.
The Riders came back by driving 71 yards to set up a field goal by Luca Congi from 16 yards out to cut the lead to 7-5.
Congi finished the game 4-for-4, with the longest from 45 yards.
Duval was good on his only field goal from 26 yards out.
With just over a minute left before half time, Durant completed a 40-yard pass to Cates. On the following play, Cates took another Durant pass for 25 yards into the end zone to put the Roughriders 15-10 at the half.
But Saskatchewan's lead wouldn't last long.
Hunt picked off a Durant pass intended for Andy Fantuz, which would eventually set up set up a 17-yard completion from Calvillo to Jamel Richardson for the major to make the score 17-15 for Montreal.
Each team would add another third-quarter touchdown to head into the fourth quarter with Montreal ahead 24-22.
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