Kory Sheets ran wild in the Saskatchewan Roughriders Grey Cup victory but it was the offensive line that gave him room to roam.
The big guys on the Rider line ripped opened the holes that the speedy Sheets was able to slip through in Saskatchewan’s 45-23 win over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in Sunday’s championship game.
Sheets galloped for 197 yards on 20 carries and scored two touchdowns. That broke Johnny Bright’s old Grey Cup record of 169 yards set in 1956.
“We took a lot of pride in it,” said left guard Brendon Labatte, who earlier last week was named the league’s outstanding offensive lineman. “We’ve been busting our tails to give Sheets the best running lanes we can.”
Sheets acknowledge the work of the men in the trenches.
“I couldn’t do it without the guys up front,” he said. “They did all the work. All I did was carry the ball.”
Left tackle Xavier Fulton said Sheets’ quickness can turn a tiny opening into a huge gain.
“We didn’t have to do a whole lot of work,” said the second-year Rider. “We just have to give Kory a little bit of room and he makes the rest happen.
“He’s such an amazing athlete he doesn’t need a lot of room to work.”
Ben Heenan, the Regina-born right tackle the Riders’ selected first overall in last year’s CFL college draft, said Sheets can make a line look good.
“A great running back makes his own holes and that’s something Kory has been doing all year,” he said. “He needs to take a lot of that credit.
“We did some good things, we had some slip ups as well. At the end of the day it was a team win.”
The Riders managed 513 total yards to win the fourth Grey Cup in team history. Quarterback Darian Durant had enough protection to complete 17 of 24 passes for 245 yards and three touchdown passes. Durant also had seven rushes for 26 yards.
“Hamilton has a tough defence,” said LaBatte. “They were giving us a lot of looks.
“Dom (centre Dominic Picard) was getting us on point and Sheets was picking up his guys. It was a team effort out there. It felt unreal to win it with this group.”
The Riders acquired Fulton in a trade from the Edmonton Eskimos prior to last year. He was part of a Rider offensive line that allowed 47 quarterback sacks during the season, third-least in the CFL.
“Every single bit of work was worth it,” said Fulton. “All the extra meetings, all the times spent with guys in meetings. All the early morning when I didn’t want to wake up to go in early. It was all worth it for this feeling right here, right now.”
LaBatte, who was raised in Weyburn, Sask., said the Grey Cup was the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
“It’s a great group of offensive linemen,” he said. “We just came in and tried to get better each day.
“We picked away at it over the course of 23 weeks. We finally got it done and it feels absolutely unreal.”
