Run of Classic wins ends for Riders
Unexplained penalty call leads to Bombers’ tie-breaking FG on final play
The latest Labour Day Classic lived up to the game’s storied tradition, but nonetheless was a notable departure from convention.
Losing is hardly novel to the Saskatchewan Roughriders, who fell 28-25 to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers on Sunday, but it is uncommon for the Green and White to taste defeat during the annual long-weekend showdown.
The Roughriders had won 11 Classics in succession before Justin Medlock snapped the streak Sunday with a 43-yard, tiebreaking field goal on the final play.
Only 48 seconds earlier, Saskatchewan’s Kendial Lawrence had crossed the goal-line to complete an 85-yard punt return. Tyler Crapigna missed the convert and the score remained tied until Medlock settled matters with his seventh field goal before a sellout crowd of 33,427.
The gathering was somnolent until the Roughriders’ offence finally displayed a finishing touch, turning a 19-3 deficit into a 19-19 deadlock thanks to back-toback touchdowns and two-point conversions.
Medlock responded with two more field goals. Lawrence answered with his long-distance touchdown. Medlock then made the most of his final attempt, aided by the cheesiest of calls, and the Roughriders were left to lament a heartbreaking defeat and a 1-9 record.
The storybook was not supposed to unfold in such a manner during the final classic at old Mosaic Stadium. When Lawrence scored, an antiquated observer flashed back to other (small-c) classic endings ... Ken Clark’s improbable field goal in 1983 ... Joe Paopao’s game-winning touchdown bomb to Ray Elgaard in 1986 ... Kerry Joseph’s decisive quarterback draw in 2007.
For a few fleeting seconds, it appeared that Saskatchewan would defeat a favoured Winnipeg side, as has been known to happen on Labour Day weekend.
But then a flag flew, extinguishing a Justin Cox interception and instead penalizing him for pass interference. Cox had actually provided textbook coverage on Weston Dressler, but no matter. With 28 seconds left, the Bombers had another life, and ultimately a fifth straight victory.
Accountability, it seems, stops with the officials. It would be nice to ask: “On what basis did you make that call?” However, the men in the striped shirts are off-limits to the dastardly media, unlike the players who are routinely grilled.
Crapigna, for example, faced the music after his first rough day as a CFLer. He missed two fieldgoal attempts before the lastminute miscue on the convert.
Win or lose, Roughriders quarterback Darian Durant handles reporters’ questions with professionalism and class. Durant passed for 399 yards and a touchdown on Sunday, but also threw two fourth-quarter interceptions that could be attributed to poor pass routes.
Chris Jones — Saskatchewan’s head coach, defensive co-ordinator, general manager and vicepresident of football operations — provided expansive answers after Sunday’s game.
Jones had spent both his challenges, which were unsuccessful, and was left without any recourse after the forehead-slapper of a call against Cox.
It should be noted, though, that Jones’s defence has shown signs of improvement. Winnipeg was held to one touchdown — an 82-yard bomb from Matt Nichols to Quincy McDuffie — by a Roughriders team that generally provided resistance as the visitors approached the goal-line.
Saskatchewan’s offence also lacked a finishing touch until late in the third quarter, but ended up turning an eye-glazing game into a thriller.
The Roughriders’ receiving corps, which has absorbed considerable heat in this space, came close to featuring three 100-yard producers on Sunday.
Caleb Holley, who had 10 catches for 121 yards and his first CFL touchdown, gets better every week. Naaman Roosevelt (eight catches, 97 yards) was his typically productive self. Ricky Collins Jr. (five catches, 97 yards) enjoyed his best game since July. Rob Bagg added six grabs for 36 yards.
Even during an afternoon game, you could see some of the lights start to come on. Only the officials failed to provide any illumination.