Mitchell Blair
Riderville.com

“We knocked one team out of the playoffs, and we have three more to go,” said Saskatchewan Roughrider receiver Andy Fantuz in a joyous locker room.

After a disastrous October that saw the football team lose four in a row, the Riders perhaps started a four game November winning streak with a 31-23 victory over the Edmonton Eskimos to eliminate them from the post-season. The victory set up a Western Division Semi-Final against B.C and allowed the Riders to end the year with a record of 10-8

Saturday’s game turned late in the first half when the Rider offence finally got into the endzone. The team had moved the ball consistently in the first half, but they could not punch it in for a touchdown instead having to settle for two field goals and two singles.

After holding the Edmonton offence for the first time, the Riders went down the field capping off a five play, 58 yard drive with a Darian Durant two-yard touchdown run with just two seconds to play in the first half.

The Riders then got the ball to start the second half and they promptly marched it 61 yards in seven plays with Wes Cates going into the endzone to give the team a lead they would not give up. Durant knew after the game that was the turning point.

“Scoring at the end of the first half was huge,” Durant said. “We knew we were getting the ball back to start the second half for us. We did what we wanted and it was a 14 point swing that really gave us the momentum.”

Durant was 26 of 38 for 345 yards and a touchdown. Six of those 26 completions went to rookie Cary Koch who is making a bigger and bigger impact with each game. Koch is happy to be a contributor.

“I just had to wait my turn,” Koch said. “Good things come with good opportunities. I’ve stepped up and made the most of my opportunities. I’m developing better chemistry with Darian each and every day and that’s showing.”

Koch also feels that the result earlier in the day that saw B.C. put Edmonton in a must-win position helped his team a little.

“We wanted to win no matter what happened in Hamilton,” Koch explained. “We wanted to end this losing streak, but when Edmonton found out they had to win, it upped the pressure for us a little bit because we knew they had something to play for and we didn’t want to let them take it from us easily.”

Defensive lineman Keith Shologan admitted after that perhaps the intensity factor went up somewhat once they knew the game had some meaning to it.

“This game meant a lot to us, but we know it’s a one game season for the next three weeks,” Shologan said. “We got that feeling watching B.C. beat Hamilton that there was something on the line. Some enthusiasm developed in the room once that happened knowing that we had a chance to end their season. It brought us to where we had to be.”

Head Coach Ken Miller was happy to finally address the media after a victory saying that despite what many were thinking, the team always remained confident they could pull out of their skid.

“Everyone has remained confident over this losing streak. Our character has really stood up and showed itself.” Miller said. “Tad Kornegay came up to me after the game and said ‘Coach we’re back’. I think the men are confident and looking forward to upcoming challenges. B.C. played great football in the second half and we are really looking forward to the challenge they will bring us next week.”

That Western Semi-Final will start at 3:30 pm local time on Sunday, November 14.

NOTES:

Middle linebacker Barrin Simpson suffered an ankle injury in the first quarter, but he told The Regina Leader-Post’s  Ian Hamilton that there is no way the injury will keep him out of next Sunday’s game against the Lions …  Andy Fantuz had 77 yards receiving to give him a league-leading 1,380 yards. Fantuz is the first Canadian to lead the CFL in receiving yards since Stampeder David Sapunjis in 1995 … It’s the 4th year in a row that the team has had 10 or more victories … A sellout crowd of 30,048 watched the game. It meant that every Rider regular season home game this season was played in front of a sell-out crowd.