By Elliotte Friedman,
CFL.ca
Almost an hour after Saskatchewan eliminated Calgary, the Roughrider fans who eliminated the Stampeders’ home-field advantage were still cheering. By then, they’d moved the celebration from the stands to the stairwell that led to the team bus. Every player, every coach, every staffer, was getting mobbed, stopped for autographs, getting photographed.
But it was the last two who received among the loudest cheers. A few weeks ago, I wrote about Danny Barrett, saying that he’d been let down by his team. With the Green and White lurching towards the playoffs, his future looked as secure as one of Paris Hilton’s boyfriend’s.
Back then, he’d need security to get through alive. Sunday, he was the safest man in the country. (This sets up an intriguing scenario in Saskatchewan: What if Eric Tillman asks him to stay, and Barrett says no? Barrett doesn’t want to displace his eldest child – who is finishing up high school – but if I was him I might say goodbye to the fishbowl and try something else.)
More interesting, though, was the reaction to the player who came out just before Barrett. Kenton Keith is a lightning rod in Regina. A walking firestorm, he is by far the most controversial person in the organization. On the same July weekend the Roughriders honoured their 1966 Grey Cup champions, news broke that Keith was being investigated for his role in a local bar brawl.
It is not the first time he’s been in the headlines for the wrong reasons. Keith appears in the news pages almost as often as he appears in the sports section.
“I like it in Regina,” he said, minutes before his rousing reception from the fans. “I like the fact that we’re the most important thing; that football matters most to the people. I’ve learned that you have to be careful where you go, what you do. It’s a small town, so every mistake you make becomes a big story.”
Barrett and deposed general manager Roy Shivers constantly protected Keith, hoping that the runner’s immense skill would pay them back in the playoffs. Barrett and Shivers were smart enough to know that in championship-starved Saskatchewan, all transgressions would be forgotten if Keith realized his massive potential in the playoffs.
It happened once before, when No. 28 single-handedly destroyed the Winnipeg Blue Bombers with 14 carries for 140 yards and three touchdowns in a 2003 West Semi-Final victory. That was Keith’s first full CFL season and the Roughriders looked like they’d discovered cold fusion.
But, as he himself admitted on Sunday, “I hadn’t played another game like that until today.”
There was a time this year it looked like Keith might be finished. Four games into the season, Keith had just 19 carries for 85 yards. He didn’t have a touchdown, but did have a fumble. With Dominique Dorsey starting at running back, the Roughriders beat B.C. 29-28 in Vancouver. Critics were howling the team didn’t need Keith. He was injured. He was trouble. He just wasn’t worth it.
Barrett held on, and so did Shivers until he was fired. Why? On October 24, Calgary Sun football writer Dan Toth provided the answer. Toth asked an NFL scout who he’d prefer: Joffrey Reynolds or Charles Roberts. The scout went off the board and picked Keith ahead of the league’s top two rushers.
Although the Roughriders were ridiculously inconsistent, Keith came alive over the rest of the season, finishing third in CFL with 1,178 rushing yards. His average carry of 6.4 was best in the league among running backs. (Well, technically Ron McClendon tied him and Wes Cates beat him, but let’s be serious. McClendon had 38 carries and Cates 25. Keith had 183.)
He also made a huge tackle on Byron Parker’s interception return to save Saskatchewan’s 13-9 over Toronto three weeks ago.
But Keith didn’t really validate Barrett’s faith in him until Sunday. Yes, he dropped a touchdown pass in the first quarter. But, you could tell from the game’s very first play that he was going to be a presence. On the option, Kerry Joseph mad a bad pitch, only to have Keith avoid enough tacklers to turn what should have been a minus-two into a plus-three. Coaches will tell you those kinds of runs really define backs.
The highlight was his 76-yard run on the first play of the second half that cut Calgary’s lead to 21-20. But his 14-yarder that clinched it late was also breathtaking, thanks to the swerve he put on Wes Lysack when the Stampeder safety put his head down to try and make the tackle.
Now come the first-place Lions, who were 1-3 against Saskatchewan, 12-2 versus the rest of the CFL. Owners of the league’s second-best run defence (the Roughriders were first), the Lions won’t make the same kinds of offensive mistakes Calgary did.
In his first two games against them, Keith had 12 carries for 55 yards. But in the last one, it was 13 for 110. Another day like that, and Keith might just become Saskatchewan’s favourite son.
Elliotte Friedman is the host of the CFL on CBC.
(The opinions expressed are those of the author and not necessarily of the Canadian Football League)
