TORONTO -- With the way things had been going for Saskatchewan Roughriders kick returner Mario Alford through the first two games of the season, it felt like it was only a matter of time before he came up with something special when his team needed it the most.
As it turns out, Friday night against the Toronto Argonauts was that time.
Moments after a late-game Argos touchdown tied the game 32-32, Alford would break off a 99-yard kick return to score the game-winning points with nine seconds remaining and secure a 39-32 victory in Canadian Football League action in Toronto.
The stunning turn of events saw the Roughriders improve to 3-0 on the season despite blowing a 24-10 third-quarter lead, while the reigning Grey Cup champion Argonauts fell to 0-3. The winning touchdown came after Alford had put together a few good returns earlier in the game, and was a product of taking what was available at the right time.
“Coach always emphasizes that I could be better at setting up my blocks, I think I emphasized that in this game, being patient and hitting the hole when I see it.,” Alford said. “It was great execution by the return team, not just me, they had the blocks, they blocked me well and I did the rest.”
While the touchdown was the first of the season for Alford, it certainly wasn’t his first opportunity to put up something big -- just the right moment for it all to come together.
“We start off with Week 1, we had some great returns that were there, Week 2, same way,” Alford said. “But tonight, I woke up this morning and had this feeling like we had it at the right time and where we need it.”
Riders' head coach Corey Mace was almost not surprised to see Alford come through when he did, especially with how things have been going for the return teams all season.
“I thought we were the more physical group on special teams and Mario has been fantastic this entire year to this point,” he said. “You knew it was a matter of time and boy, what a time. I’m happy as ever for those guys to be able to share that moment.”
While the final result turned out fine -- and the Riders have been vocal about never apologizing for a win -- the fact they needed the late game magic wasn’t a positive turn of events.
Touchdowns from A.J. Ouellette and Dohnte Meyers had given Saskatchewan a 14-7 lead after the first quarter, and a Brett Lauther field goal in the second made it a 17-10 lead at the break. The Riders then had a second major from Meyers on their first drive after halftime for a 24-10 lead at that point.
Toronto quarterback Nick Arbuckle would get things going not long after, though, and the Argos would outscore Saskatchewan 22-8 the rest of the way to tie the game 32-32 prior to Alford’s big run. Needless to say, it was tough to watch for Mace, as he admitted to the Rider Broadcast Network’s Luc Mullinder after the game.
“I don’t know, man, I don’t think I could take much more of that anymore, I’ll tell you that… well, if it ends like that maybe I can, but jeez, jeez,” he said with a sigh of relief.
A major reason for how things turned out so close was the amount of penalty trouble Saskatchewan found themselves in all night. After turning in remarkably disciplined performances their previous two games, the Riders were hit with 18 penalties for 178 yards in Toronto, with many coming at times that extended Argos drives or stalled their own.
“At this point, that’s super uncharacteristic for us,” Mace said. “The first game we had five penalties, the second three penalties and we were championing that, feeling really good about it. But it fell off the rails and we’ve seen what that looks like and what it can potentially do to a team if we don’t play clean. We made it hard on ourselves, no doubt.”
Until Toronto’s comeback, the Riders defence had turned in another solid job that included Tevaughn Campbell’s first interception of the year in the third quarter, a pick that ended a promising drive for Toronto and saved a potential touchdown.
“It played out from the first deep ball they threw, coaches were telling me: ‘Play the eyes, play the ball, play the quarterback, don’t look back at the receiver,’” Campbell said describing the play which saw him get in front of David Ungerer III and make a leaping catch at the Riders three-yard line.
“I knew he was either coming back or going deep, he started going deep so I was looking at the quarterback and going: ‘Let me catch that, let me catch that.’ I knew I had to jump high for that ball. It felt great, it felt good to get the first pick.”
All in all, the Riders were happy to see the end result in their favour, especially with their struggles at BMO Field over the years.
“That’s a Grey Cup MVP playing quarterback for them, they’re the defending Grey Cup champs and this is not an easy place to win,” Mace said. “It was a tall task for us on a short week and travelling out east, so I told the guys we know we’ll end up watching the film and fixing stuff, but I’m so proud for us to handle all that and walk away with the win. For the special teams to answer at the end, that’s a dream and credit to a lot of people.”
You can find all the stats and info from the contest at www.cfl.ca and follow along with how the game played out on SportsCage’s live blog.
The Riders are back in action on Saturday, June 28 when the B.C. Lions make their first trip to Mosaic Stadium. Game time is 5 p.m. and you can follow along with all the action on the 620 CKRM Co-operators Rider Broadcast Network.
