Defending champions are out
Roughriders beat Redblacks in CFL’s Eastern semifinal; Eskimos win Western semifinal
Marcus Thigpen still has plenty of juice left in his 31-year-old legs.
Thigpen ran for 169 yards and a key TD to lead Saskatchewan to a record-setting 31-20 East Division semifinal win over the Ottawa Redblacks on Sunday before a TD Stadium sellout of 24,107. Thigpen joined the Roughriders in September after being out of football for roughly two years and started with both Marshall Cameron and Trent Richardson on the injured list.
“I felt like I stopped playing too early and felt like I still had a lot left in the tank,” said Thigpen, donning a T-shirt with the Superman logo. “I was still running track with my high school coach and I knew I still had the speed.
“I stayed in the weight room, I knew I had the size and strength. I just felt like I missed it and wanted to come back.”
So the five-foot-nine, 195pound Thigpen, a Detroit native, reached out to Riders’ starter Kevin Glenn, who also hails from Detroit, via Instagram. Glenn relayed that message to Chris Jones, the Riders head coach/GM, and the rest, as they say, is history.
“We’re both from Detroit so we’ve always kept in touch,” Glenn said. “He mentioned he was trying to get back into the game and I went to coach Jones and he was like, ‘Right now, get him on the phone.’
“I’ve got to get a percentage from (Thigpen) now since he’s back.”
But Thigpen has his own repayment in mind: Helping Glenn, a 15-year CFL veteran, win his first Grey Cup championship. Saskatchewan will face the Toronto Argonauts on Sunday in the East Division final with the winner advancing to the championship game.
However, history isn’t on the Riders’ side. They’ll try to become the first crossover team to reach the Grey Cup since the rule was adopted in 1996.
“I know it’s never been done before . . . but anything is possible,” Thigpen said. “I’ve never won a championship in football in my life and I want it as bad as (Glenn) does.
“That’s one of our motivations . . . he deserves it.”
Jones was surprised when Glenn told him about Thigpen’s desire to resume playing.
“Well we didn’t actually know he was interested,” Jones said. “KG came in and said he’d reached out to him and I’m like, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me?’
“So we brought him in and it wasn’t long until we could say he still had some juice.”
Saskatchewan and Ottawa combined for three touchdowns on the game’s first three possessions. That set CFL playoff records for fastest two TDs (four minutes seven seconds); fastest three touchdowns (5:54); and first time the opening three possessions resulted in a touchdown.
Thigpen punched Saskatchewan’s ticket to the East final with a 75-yard TD run in the third quarter. It came immediately after Ottawa settled for Brett Maher’s 22-yard field goal that cut the Riders’ lead to 21-11 following a fumble recovery at the Roughriders’ 19-yard line.
Eskimos 39, Blue Bombers 32
WINNIPEG - Adarius Bowman caught two touchdown passes and C.J. Gable added a pair on the ground as the Edmonton Eskimos defeated the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 39-32 in Sunday’s CFL West Division semifinal.
It was Edmonton’s sixth straight victory and earned them a trip to Calgary for next Sunday’s division final against the Stampeders (13-4-1).
Eskimos quarterback Mike Reilly completed 23-of-33 pass attempts for 334 yards with three TDs and no interceptions.
Bombers quarterback Matt Nichols, who didn’t appear to be hampered by a calf injury, was 35 of 48 for 371 yards with three TDs and no picks in front of an announced attendance of 27,244 at Investors Group Field.
The loss bumped up Winnipeg’s Grey Cup drought to 27 seasons.
Edmonton played in last year’s East Division final as the crossover team, losing to the eventual Grey Cup-champion Ottawa Redblacks.
Both clubs were 12-6 in the regular season, with Winnipeg winning the two previous matches. The Bombers had entered the game by wining only two of their last five games.