Riders clinch first in the West with victory over Eskimos

The Saskatchewan Roughriders have finished in first place in the West Division and will host a CFL division final for the first time since 2009.

And, perhaps most importantly, the Green and White will get a week off to get healthy before hosting either the Winnipeg Blue Bombers or Calgary Stampeders.

Rookie quarterback Isaac Harker made his first CFL start in front of a paid attendance of 29,156 at Mosaic Stadium on Saturday, earning a 23-13 win over the Edmonton Eskimos.

Harker made the start because quarterback Cody Fajardo was out with an oblique strain.

“You’re glad you’re getting a chance to show your opportunity but at the same time your best friend is the one who’s down,” Harker said following the win. “(Fajardo has) gotten us to this point to where we could clinch this year.

“I really wanted to win not only for Cody but for the whole team. It’s a good feeling.”

While Harker didn’t find out he was starting until earlier in the day, he got to start his first professional game in front of his family.

“They booked (the trip) a long time in advance. They didn’t fly so they were planning on driving the RV up the whole time,” Harker said. “It’s fun that they got to see me play but at the same time you never want to see Cody go down.”

Harker said it awesome to have his family see it because he never thought he’d get the opportunity to do it.

“Me and Cody had always said none of us were supposed to play this year, none of us were supposed to be here whether it was him, me or Bryan (Bennett),” Harker said. “Bryan had a critical role in today’s game so (we’re) just a bunch of misfits.”

Harker finished the game with 23 completions on 28 pass attempts for 213 yards, with no touchdowns and no interceptions.

The win will allow Fajardo one extra week to get healthy ahead of their playoff showdown.

“I’m so proud of Isaac. He basically said he’s going to guarantee me some time off to get healthy so that was a big win for us as a team and him as a quarterback,” Fajardo said.

The Saskatchewan nominee for the CFL’s Most Outstanding Player award said he was feeling better on Saturday.

“I’m going to be ready to go (for the West final). It doesn’t matter how bad the pain is, it’s playoffs so I’m going to play through it and it doesn’t matter if I get hurt even more,” Fajardo said. “I’m going to be out there with my guys until I keel over on the field.”

The game Saturday never felt out of reach for either team until the Roughriders’ nominee for the Most Outstanding Canadian award, Cam Judge, picked off Eskimos backup quarterback Troy Williams. Judge returned the pick for a touchdown to seal the win.

“I was really a step late on the out (route run by the receiver) and I wouldn’t have picked it if it wasn’t for Chuck (defensive end Charleston Hughes) tipping it,” Judge said after the win. “I owe Chuck dinner or something.”

Judge said getting the West final at home is going to be big for the team.

“Playing in front of these fans is like playing with 13 (players) out there,” Judge said. “It feels good.”

Edmonton quarterback Logan Kilgore finished the game with 88 yards passing on 12 completions, but threw one touchdown each to Tevaun Smith and Kevin Elliott.

Running back Marcus Thigpen scored the only touchdown of the game for the offence, scoring on a four-yard rush.

Kicker Brett Lauther struggled in the game, going 2-for-6 on field-goal attempts. But he made a 12-yard field goal with 1:30 left to put the Roughriders up 16-13.

“It was definitely a rough one. I let the guys down multiple times tonight and (there are) just no excuses for it; I’ve just got to be better,” Lauther said. “It was such a short one, I guess the guys knew I needed to get a lot closer to make one tonight but it was just a rough game. (I’ll) just wash it.”

And how’s Lauther planning on moving on from the game?

“Probably drink a lot of beers tonight, forget about it, wake up tomorrow (and pretend) it never happened,” Lauther said.

Lauther was good on both of his extra-point attempts.

On the other side, Edmonton kicker Sean Whyte missed his only field-goal attempt. He was good on one of his point-after attempts but had one blocked by Saskatchewan defensive lineman Charbel Dabire.

The Roughriders’ 13 wins are the most since the team won 14 in 1970.

Head coach Craig Dickenson believes the team’s success lies in the people they have in management and in the locker room.

“(They’re) guys that enjoy playing, enjoy coming to work. We’ve won a lot of close games. It would be nice to win a few more by a few more scores,” Dickenson said. “To win 13, you have to do a lot of things right and you’ve got to get some breaks and I think we got both.”

Dickenson said he feels like heading into their first bye week of the regular season with a 1-3 record was a key moment for this team because the coaches didn’t treat the team differently, even with its poor record.

“We try not to get too high and too low when we’re losing. I think that resonated in the locker room and I think they appreciated that,” Dickenson said. “I think that was a big moment for us, it was the guys realizing, ‘Hey, when (the coaches) say they’re going to do something, they’re going to do it the way they say it,’ and they started to trust us.”

Dickenson also commented on the health of his starting quarterback.

“I think he’s going to be all right,” Dickenson said, “but it’s one of those strange injuries you just don’t know so we’ll just take it day by day.”

The Roughriders will play host to either Calgary or Winnipeg on Nov. 17.