3 stats that defined Saskatchewan's Week 19 win over BC
10/12/2024 09:41 PM
REGINA — The Saskatchewan Roughriders guaranteed that playoff football will return to Regina this fall with a convincing win against the BC Lions on Saturday evening. From start to finish, the Riders were in control against the Leos and with the 39-8 result they locked up at least second place in the West Division.
A very early pick-six on Nathan Rourke seemed to unsettle the BC offence on the road, and the visitor’s run game never really got going. Meanwhile, Trevor Harris produced another great performance for the hosts, making no mistakes with the football and feeding his weapons throughout the evening.
Here are CFL.ca's three key stats from the Roughriders’ win over the Lions in Week 19.
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48 – YARD A.J. ALLEN PICK-SIX
There was undoubtedly a stroke of fortune on the first interception of the game which was returned 48 yards for a pick-six by Saskatchewan’s A.J. Allen just 65 seconds into Saturday’s contest.
William Stanback bobbled Rourke’s pass and then could only watch as the ball bounced off of his heel and into the path of a grateful Allen. From there, BC struggled to find its way on offence, while Saskatchewan grew in confidence on the defensive side, creating six turnovers by the end of the game.
83% – PASSING PERCENTAGE BY TREVOR HARRIS
Harris fell just short of making it three straight 300-yard showings, but his play inside the pocket was nonetheless a big reason for Saskatchewan’s stellar day at the office against BC.
Harris finished the game with 271 yards, going 25-30 through the air in a performance about as close to perfect as a quarterback can get in the CFL. He threw for both of the Riders’ offensive touchdowns, finding Jerreth Sterns and Kian Schaffer-Baker in the end zone.
26 – FIRST-HALF POINTS BY SASKATCHEWAN
The Roughriders went into halftime holding a 26-8 advantage over their opponent and even though the game wasn’t completely out of reach at the break, it felt like there was no coming back for the Lions with the way the first half had transpired.
The Lions had a turnover on their last three possessions of the first half and the Riders answered with points off of two of those takeaways. Working with a healthy lead in the second half, the Riders were then able to rest Harris for the final quarter, giving their pivot a bit of an extended bye week with Saskatchewan not back in action until Week 21.
