THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ticats.ca
REGINA –Weston Dressler’s 13-yard touchdown run with six minutes left put Saskatchewan ahead for good as the Roughriders beat the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 33-23 on Sunday at Mosaic Stadium.
Backup quarterback Steven Jyles, who replaces starter Darian Durant in short yardage situations, threw for one touchdown and ran for another, helping Saskatchewan (4-3) stake out a 23-0 halftime lead that Hamilton would rally back from.
Ticats linebacker Markeith Knowlton finished with 10 tackles and a sack, while receiver Arland Bruce III led the Black and Gold with 98 receiving yards and scored his first touchdown as a Ticat.
Hamilton erased a the Riders 23 point lead in the second half, tying the game on the strength of three Nick Setta field goals and touchdowns from Arland Bruce III and DeAndra’ Cobb.
But Weston Dressler put the Riders ahead for good with a 13-yard touchdown run and Luca Congi kicked his third field goal of the game with less than three minutes to play to cap the scoring.
“You’ve got to play 60 minutes to win in the CFL, you can’t play 30 minutes,” said Tiger-Cats head coach Marcel Bellefeuille.
A resurgent running game was the key to Saskatchewan’s success Sunday. Wes Cates became the first Roughrider to rush for over 100 yards this year, finishing with 117.
“(It was) not as much for myself but more for the naysayers,” said Cates. “Yeah I needed a big game like that to stop the rumours and stop people from talking bad about me.”
Kevin Glenn replaced Quinton Porter at quarterback for Hamilton after the first quarter and finished the game 12-for-27 with 183 yards. Porter was 1-for-5 for three yards before he was pulled.
Roughriders starter Durant completed 15 of 30 attempts for 193 yards while Steven Jyles, who replaces Durant in short yardage situations, was 2-for-2 for 21 yards.
Glenn started slowly but spearheaded the Ticats’ comeback with completions of 37 yards to Chris Davis and 49 to Bruce on the first two series of the third quarter.
Durant’s favourite target was Jason Clermont, who caught four passes for 66 yards.
An unlikely target, defensive lineman Keith Shologan opened the scoring when he picked up a one-yard toss from Jyles to cap a 10-play drive on the Riders’ second possession of the game.
Jyles also ran for a touchdown in the second quarter to put the Riders up 19-0.
NOTES: The Roughriders had won 10 consecutive regular season games against Hamilton entering Friday’s game … With the win, the Riders moved into a tie atop the West Division with the Edmonton Eskimos … The Roughriders welcomed returner Eric Morris back from the injury list after four games but lost linebacker Kye Stewart to injury on the first play of the game … Saskatchewan travels to Montreal to face the Alouettes in one of two CFL games Friday. Hamilton has a bye in Week 8 and plays its next game Aug. 29 at Edmonton
