The Ottawa REDBLACKS’ 2017 season came to an end on Sunday afternoon at the hands of the Saskatchewan Roughriders, who brought their A-game to TD Place and earned a 31-20 win in the East Division Semi-Final.
Riders running back Marcus Thigpen ran the show for Saskatchewan, racking up 169 yards and a touchdown on the ground, while veteran Saskatchewan quarterback Kevin Glenn threw for 252 yards and a touchdown.
Ottawa’s offence never quite found its rhythm on the afternoon; though Trevor Harris ended with 457 pass yards and a pair of touchdowns. He had a career-high 60 attempts on the afternoon connecting on 37 of them and was also picked twice on the day.
The visitors opened the scoring on a methodical six-play touchdown drive capped by a 29-yard touchdown connection from Glenn to Bakari Grant. Riders kicker Tyler Crapigna’s convert made it 7-0.
Harris and co. responded on the second play of their first offensive drive, as the REDBLACKS pivot bombed a 56-yard pass to Diontae Spencer for a major; Harris then lofted a successful two-point convert to Juron Criner.
The slugfest continued, as Glenn plunged in for a touchdown from the one-yard line; Crapigna’s convert gave the Riders a 14-8 lead.
A one-yard second-quarter touchdown on a Vernon Adams Jr. sneak and Crapigna’s subsequent convert sent the visitors to the locker room with a 21-8 lead.
Momentum then swung twice in the span of five third-quarter plays; REDBLACKS special-teamer Keelan Johnson forced a Rider fumble — recovered by teammate Serderius Bryant at the Sask. 22 — on a Christion Jones punt return. Ottawa could only manage a field goal, and the Riders’ first play on the following drive turned into a slicing, dicing 76-yard Thigpen touchdown.
Crapigna’s convert made it 28-11.
REDBLACKS kicker Brett Maher and Crapigna swapped field goals later in the third quarter.
An early-fourth-quarter interception from former REDBLACK Jovon Johnson deep inside the Saskatchewan half on a floated Harris pass sealed Sunday’s result.
Harris found Juron Criner for a garbage-time touchdown, but it proved to be much too late for Rick Campbell’s men, who were well-beaten on the afternoon by the red-hot Riders.
Saskatchewan will now advance to face the Toronto Argonauts in the East Division final next weekend.
What They’re Saying
“We just didn’t get it done. We didn’t end up making big plays in key moments — football’s a team game, and we just didn’t make ourselves look good today. We turned the ball over twice on their side of the field, which is killer. They made plays today, we didn’t. That’s the bottom line.” — HC Rick Campbell
Game Notes
Other than two touches in Week 20, SSK RB Marcus Thigpen had not carried the ball in a profes-sional since Dec. 20, 2015…OTT RECs Diontae Spencer (157) and Juron Criner (102) each broke the 100-yard receiving mark in the defeat…Sunday’s defeat was the third multi-interception game for QB Trevor Harris in 2017…
Scoring Summary
First Quarter
SSK — TD Glenn to Grant (Crapigna conv.) — 12:36
OTT — TD Harris to Spencer (Harris to Criner 2-pt. conv.) — 11:18
SSK — TD Glenn (Crapigna conv.)— 6:00
Second Quarter
SSK — TD Adams Jr. (Crapigna conv.) — 4:47
Third Quarter
OTT — FG Maher — 12:04
SSK — TD Thigpen (Crapigna conv.) — 11:34
OTT — FG Maher — 7:04
SSK — FG Crapigna — 0:00
Fourth Quarter
OTT — TD Harris to Criner (Maher miss) — 1:50
Attendance
24,107 (sellout)
