REGINA — The BC Lions head out on the road for a West Division matchup with the Saskatchewan Roughriders on Friday night in Regina. Friday’s game will mark the first meeting between the division rivals this season.
The Lions defeated the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 17-12 a week ago in Vancouver, while Saskatchewan will be looking to rebound after dropping back-to-back games to the Toronto Argonauts in Week’s 6 and 7.
Despite their high powered offence being held to 17 points, the Lions still found a way to walk away to secure a win over the Ticats a week ago. A lot of which had to do with their defence limiting the Ticats to just one touchdown and a pair of field goals.
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On the year, they Lions defence has surrendered an average of 20.8 points per game and have held opponents to a league low 1,213 passing yards through five games.
Against the Ticats, linebackers Jordan Williams and Ben Hladik led the charge with six defensive tackles each. Defensive back Garry Peters picked up his third interception this season and linebacker Josh Woods recorded his first sack of the season.
All four defensive playmakers will have important roles to play for the Lions against a Riders team that has thrown six interceptions and has had their quarterbacks sacked a CFL-worst 25 times.
The Lions meanwhile, have intercepted seven passes and sacked opposing quarterbacks 12 times. BC’s seven takeaways through the air are tied for second most, behind Saskatchewan and Winnipeg who lead the league in the category.
Quarterback Nathan Rourke continued his breakout season with 250 passing yards and two touchdowns against the Boatmen. His blemishes were a pair of interceptions, something he’ll need to be weary of against a Roughriders defence that has forced 10 interceptions on the year.
The offensive line, anchored by Joel Figueroa and Phillip Norman, will need to be at their best, as the Riders lead the league with 26 sacks, averaging nearly four sacks per game.
Lions offensive line coach Kelly Bates knows his side has their hands full, even with Riders star defensive lineman Pete Robertson sidelined due to an injury.
“These are professional football players and it doesn’t change, regardless of who’s in there,” Bates told BCLions.com. “They have a job to do and we have a job to do. I know they approach it that way, just like we will.”
Lucky Whitehead led the Lions with 111 receiving yards on eight receptions, and scored his first touchdown of 2022 just a week ago. BC will look to Whitehead to once again lead a receiving corps that has amassed 1,632 pass yards and 14 touchdowns this season.
The Riders, meanwhile, are still navigating their way through what has been a challenging two weeks for the team. Head coach Craig Dickenson says he is eager to get his team on the field and to put the last few weeks behind them.
“We think we’re on the tail end of this,” Dickenson told Riderville.com. “We’re looking forward to the rest of the season, hopefully we’re good and healthy and we don’t have to go through this again.”
Quarterback Jake Dolegala completed just 46.4 per cent of his passes for 131 yards and a touchdown in his CFL debut against the Argonauts. Receiver Tevin Jones caught the touchdown pass and finished with 67 yards, as both Jones and Dolegala recorded their first CFL touchdowns on the scoring play from Jones.
However, as Cody Fajardo returns under centre after missing Week 7 with an injury. He’ll look to get receiver Kian Schaffer-Baker back into offensive rhythm as the team’s leading receiver failed to catch a pass over eight attempts against the Argos.
Getting Fajardo back will take some of the load off of running back Jamal Morrow, but Morrow continues to prove himself to be critical to the success of the Riders offence.
He was limited to just 25 rushing yards in the rematch with Toronto, but leads all CFL backs with 437 rushing yards. They’ll be relying upon Morrow’s involvement in the offensive system in order for team to be successful against a Lions defence that is allowing an average of 88.2 yards per game.
Frankie Hickson is out, so to help in the run game they’ve signed Shaq Cooper who will dress as the backup against the Lions. Cooper returns to the Riders after spending time with the team during the 2022 training camp.
Regardless of who is under centre for the Riders, the offensive line will need to do a better job of protecting the quarterback. Na’Ty Rodgers and Logan Ferland have played in all seven of the Riders games this year and will look to provide some stability on Friday.
Defensively, the Riders have allowed 22.8 points per game this season, but surrendered 30 and 31 in the two games against the Argos. In their Week 7 loss they gave up 496 total yards, including 336 through the air and 160 on the ground.
Linebacker Darnell Sankey recorded an interception, while defensive linemen Demarcus Christmas and Charleston Hughes, and safety Mike Edem worked their way through for a sack.
Hughes was happy with his performance against the Argos and is looking to build on it this week.
“You just try to be ready when your numbers called,” Hughes told Riderville.com. “You have to ride the momentum. When you’re doing well on the field you have to try and keep it going as long as possible and take it into the next game. We have to get after their quarterback. He’s a real good quarterback.”
The Riders elite ability to apply defensive pressure will be relied upon to limit Nathan Rourke’s time in the pocket.
The Riders are 3-1 at home this season and are looking to snap a two game skid. The Lions are hoping to make it back-to-back wins to begin a stretch of five straight games against West Division opponents.
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