Riders riding high in the East

OTTAWA — 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, 195-pound 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.”