VANCOUVER — The Saskatchewan Roughriders closed out their CFL season series with a 23-16 road win over the injury-plagued BC Lions on Friday night at BC Place Stadium.
Kian Shaffer-Baker and Tevin Jones had touchdowns for Saskatchewan, while Brett Lauter connected on all three of his field goal attempts and added a conversion. Jacob Scarfone caught a touchdown pass for BC, while Sean White went 3-for-3 on field goal attempts.
Early in the game, the spotlight was on the quarterback position for both teams. After being pulled before halftime in the Roughriders’ 28-10 home loss to the Lions last week, Cody Fajardo responded well, finishing with 314 yards through the air on 18-of-23 passing, as well as 38 yards rushing.
In his first CFL start since last week’s injury to BC’s Nathan Rourke, Michael O’Connor went 6-for-15 for 94 yards. He was replaced by Antonio Pipkin with 8:21 left in the second quarter. Pipkin went 9-for-17 through the air for 112 yards and also ran for 26 yards.
On the Lions’ kickoff, O’Connor moved the ball effectively into scoring position. After a 17-yard kickoff return from Loucheiz Purifoy, the 26-year-old connected with Brian Burnham and Lucky Whitehead as part of a 46-yard drive that led to Whyte’s field goal just 2:29 into the game.
There were no more goals in the first quarter.
Saskatchewan scored its first points of the game with 8:35 left in the first half when Brett Lauter followed with a 20-yard field goal after Fajardo hit Shaffer-Baker with a 49-yard dart that took the Raiders to the BC 13-yard line .
On the Lions’ next possession, Antonio Pipkin took over at quarterback after O’Connor suffered a groin injury on a hard hit by Saskatchewan’s Darnell Sankey on the previous drive, resulting in a 15-yard roughing the passer penalty.
The Raiders quickly got the ball back, then scored the game’s first big score with 3:57 left in the half when Fajardo connected with a wide open Shaffer-Baker for an 89-yard play.
The Lions’ TJ Lee was able to leave the field after suffering a hamstring injury while chasing, but was subsequently ruled out for the remainder of the game.
Trailing for the first time in the game, Pipkin effectively moved the ball downfield. But a pass attempt to Rhimes in the end zone fell short, leading to a third field goal for White.
Taking over with 1:17 left in the half, the Raiders quickly moved into field goal position. Lauther scored his second touchdown of the game to give the visitors a 13-9 lead as they headed to the locker room.
Lauther added another field goal midway through the third quarter. With 1:01 remaining, Fajardo capped off a strong passing streak with a 26-yard strike to Jones, extending the lead to 23-9.
In the fourth, Pipkin collected a strong pass, then from the seven-yard line scrambled out of the pocket to hit Scarfone in the end zone, cutting the lead to one possession with 5:59 left in the game. But they couldn’t get any closer.
The Riders improve to 6-5 on the season, while the Lions fall to 8-2.
YARDSTICK: Rourke underwent surgery Friday to repair a Lisfranc sprain in his right leg … BC’s Lucky Whitehead left the game in the third quarter with a hip injury … Brian Burnham’s first-quarter catch extended his career receiving streak to 102 straight games … Saskatchewan will host the Western Division leading Winnipeg Blue Bombers next Sunday at Mosaic Stadium while BC has its final bye week.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on August 26, 2022.
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