Riders defeat Elks in Harris’ debut

The Saskatchewan Roughriders got the Trevor Harris era started with a win on the road in Edmonton on Sunday night, but the veteran quarterback wasn’t happy with his play.

“I think that’s the poorest I’ve played in a victory in my life,” Harris said following the game. “That’s just a big ups to our defence.”

While Harris wasn’t happy overall with his play, the team will be happy with the end result. The Riders extended the Edmonton Elks’ home losing streak to 18 straight games, emerging from Commonwealth Stadium with a 17-13 CFL win.

The 36-year-old veteran finished with 20 completions in 33 pass attempts for 179 yards, with a touchdown to Derel Walker and two interceptions — one of them deep in Riders territory that Harris pointed out after the game.

“That’s just a boneheaded decision,” he said. “I’m going to be better and the offence is going to be better.”

Harris was also feeling the effects of the game physically after the last play for the Riders’ offence. In order to try to run out the rest of the clock, Harris was told to try and run down the clock before tossing the ball away, but the hit Harris took on the play had him writhing in pain on the ground before he was able to be helped off.

“(Not feeling) too great right now,” Harris said. “I’m hoping it loosens up a little bit.”

Head coach Craig Dickenson said they believe the veteran QB will be fine for Friday’s game against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

“In hindsight, I could have put someone else in (for that play) but Trevor knows the play and he knows he has to get it out of his hand before he gets hit,” Dickenson said. “He has a little hip pointer but he says he’s fine.”

Dickenson believes the offensive struggles come from it being early in the season.

“That was a typical early-season game. You’re going to see some mistakes. The speed of the game is different than the pre-season so you’re going to see guys out of position a little bit,” Dickenson said. “I think offences are going to take a little longer to find their groove and I think defences traditionally start a little faster.”

While the offence struggled at times, the defence came up with some big plays.

The sequence that might have sealed the win for Saskatchewan was a goal-line stand late in the fourth quarter. On three straight plays, Saskatchewan stopped Elks short-yardage quarterback Kai Locksley on quarterback sneaks. The Riders had the ball from then until the Elks had one final play to end the game.

“Bend but don’t break. Once we had to go back out onto the field, that’s what we were saying: ‘Don’t let them back in the end zone,’ ” said defensive back Rolan Milligan, who made the third and final tackle to force a turnover on downs. “It gives us some confidence. We know we can stop that play.

“Whenever a team runs that play, we feel like we have the ability to stop it no matter what the situation is in the game. Now, it also comes with the expectations that when it does happen, that’s what we’ve got to do.”

Milligan also had an interception in the win, picking off a pass Elks quarterback Taylor Cornelius was trying to get to slotback Eugene Lewis.

The Riders’ defence was able to disrupt much of the Elks’ passing game, putting pressure on Cornelius throughout the game. The Riders had five different players — DeMarcus Christmas, Micah Johnson, Anthony Lanier II, Miles Brown and Charbel Dabire — record a sack in the game.

Cornelius finished his day with 13 pass completions on 25 attempts for 202 yards, two interceptions and one touchdown — a 102-yard catch-and-run to Lewis.

Saskatchewan’s offensive line, which was without Philip Blake (who is on the six-game injured list due to a pec strain), only surrendered two sacks in the win.

The Riders were able to get deep into Elks territory a few times but came away with field goals instead of touchdowns. Kicker Brett Lauther connected on three of four field-goal attempts, with two of his makes coming from 13 and 11 yards out. The Riders also got a rouge from Lauther’s lone miss.

Elks kicker Dean Faithfull was good on both of his field-goal attempts.

Walker, who caught the touchdown from Harris, left the game limping in the fourth quarter.

“We think he is going to be all right, but he is going to get checked out by the trainers,” Dickenson said. “That was a physical game. That’s a good team out there that we played and they have a lot of guys who can hit. We’re going to be sore tomorrow.”

The Riders’ attention will now turn to preparing for the Blue Bombers on Friday at Mosaic Stadium.

“It’s always a big game when we play them. Everyone knows who they are and they know what they are bringing to the game and how they play,” Milligan said. “We’ve got to be able to match that intensity. A short week — it doesn’t matter. Everyone gets short weeks so we have to prepare and handle business like we are supposed to.”