REGINA — Cody Fajardo wanted to make sure the Saskatchewan Roughriders played a full 60 minutes on Saturday against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
In last week’s season opener against the B.C. Lions, Fajardo and the Riders raced out to a 31-0 first half lead. The script flipped in the second half when the Lions launched a furious comeback bid. The Riders managed to hold on for a 33-29 victory.
The Riders (2-0) trailed 1-0 after the first quarter Saturday but that would be the last time they trailed in the game. They held a 17-8 halftime lead and a 27-8 lead after three quarters.
Fajardo couldn’t say enough about the Riders delivering a statement win over a tough Hamilton (0-2) team.
“Coming off Week 1 to Week 2, the biggest thing for us was finishing. We did a great job finishing with the ball in our hands on that last drive,” said Fajardo. “And our defence did a great job of not even allowing the Ticats to get close.
“This was a huge improvement.”
Fajardo was impressive, completing 17-of-25 passes for 222 yards and two touchdowns. He also rushed seven times for 66 yards.
The victory, in front of 27,076 fans, improved the Riders to 2-0. In 2019, the Riders stumbled out of the starting gate with an 0-2 record but managed to right the ship and finish first in the West Division with a 13-5-0 record.
That growing experience, which included Fajardo replacing an injured Zach Collaros as the starting quarterback, has impacted the Riders this season.
“In 2019, we got off to a slow start and it was because of timing. We got to hit it from Day 1 of training camp with me and the receivers,” said Fajardo. “Zach took a ton of reps in 2019 at training camp that resulted in us taking some time before we got rolling. We have a very veteran team that’s been here before and I think that’s the biggest reason why you see us jelling a little faster this year.”
Rookie defensive end Jonathan Woodard recorded three sacks for Saskatchewan. The six-foot-five, 271-pound player out of Central Arkansas gave the Riders a little breathing room late in the first half when he sacked Hamilton quarterback Jeremiah Masoli and forced a fumble that was recovered by A.C. Leonard on the Ticats’ eight-yard line.
On the next play, Fajardo connected with Mitchell Picton on an eight-yard scoring pass. It was the first CFL touchdown for Picton, a Regina product who starred for the University of Regina Rams before joining the Riders.
Woodard was almost at a loss for words to describe his game.
“I’m still soaking it all in. It’s been two and half years since I’ve played in a game,” said Woodard, a seventh-round pick of the Jacksonville Jaguars in the 2016 NFL draft.
Woodard had stints with the Jaguars, Atlanta Falcons, Miami Dolphins and Buffalo Bills before signing with the Riders.
“This is the best game I’ve ever had,” he added.
In addition to Woodard’s three sacks, the Riders got two sacks from Leonard and one from Gary Johnson Jr.
Picton and Kyran Moore caught touchdown passes for the Riders with kicker Brett Lauther chipping in three field goals.
Hamilton’s Brandon Banks, the CFL’s Most Oustanding Player in 2019, had a quiet first half, recording three catches for 20 yards and one rushing attempt for 12 yards. He finished the game with five catches for 30 yards.
Masoli scored Hamilton’s first touchdown on a quarterback sneak but it wasn’t as easy as that sounds.
Hamilton ran four consecutive QB sneaks from the Saskatchewan one-yard line. The Riders had one stop for no gain, and were twice penalized for being offside. The second penalty negated a Masoli fumble that was recovered by Hamilton but would have left the Ticats facing a second and goal situation from the six-yard line.
Fajardo gave the Riders their first lead of the game early in the second quarter. With the ball on the Hamilton 14-yard line, Fajardo faked a handoff to William Powell and then sprinted around the right end into the end zone for the score.
Powell was the game’s leading rusher, gaining 89 yards on 18 carries. Rookie Brayden Lenius was the game’s top receiver, catching five passes for 62 yards.
The Ticats replaced Masoli with backup Dane Evans late in the third quarter. Masoli finished 17-of-25 passing for 135 yards and two interceptions. Evans was 3-for-10 passing for 21 yards.
The Riders lost starting receiver Shaq Evans in the second quarter when some players rolled up the back of his legs as he was blocking on Fajardo’s touchdown run. Head coach Craig Dickenson believes the injury was to Evans’ foot or ankle.
The game got a little chippy with a fracas breaking out after Moore’s touchdown in the third quarter. Jake Harty of the Riders and Jovan Santos-Knox were ejected for rough play.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — DeMar DeRozan scored 27 points in a record-setting performance and the Sacramento Kings beat the Toronto Raptors 122-107 on Wednesday night.
Domantas Sabonis added 17 points, 13 assists and 11 rebounds for his third triple-double of the season for Sacramento. He shot 6 for 6 from the field and 5 for 5 at the free-throw line.
Keegan Murray chipped in with 22 points and 12 rebounds, and De’Aaron Fox scored 21.
The 35-year-old DeRozan has scored at least 20 points in each of his first eight games with the Kings, breaking a franchise mark established by Chris Webber when he reached 20 in his first seven games with Sacramento in 1999.
DeRozan spent the past three seasons with the Chicago Bulls. The six-time All-Star also has played for Toronto and San Antonio during his 16-year NBA career.
RJ Barrett had 23 points to lead the Raptors. Davion Mitchell scored 20 in his first game in Sacramento since being traded to Toronto last summer.
Takeaways
Raptors: Toronto led for most of the first three quarters before wilting in the fourth. The Raptors were outscored 33-14 in the final period.
Kings: Fox played strong defense but struggled again shooting from the floor as he is dealing with a finger injury. Fox went 5 for 17 and just 2 of 8 on 3-pointers. He is 5 for 25 from beyond the arc in his last three games.
Key moment
The Kings trailed 95-89 early in the fourth before going on a 9-0 run that gave them the lead for good. DeRozan started the spurt with a jumper, and Malik Monk scored the final seven points.
Key stat
Sabonis had the eighth game in the NBA since at least 1982-83 with a triple-double while missing no shots from the field or foul line. The previous player to do it was Josh Giddey for Oklahoma City against Portland on Jan. 11.
Up next
Raptors: At the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday night, the third stop on a five-game trip.
VANCOUVER – The Vancouver Whitecaps are one win away from moving on to the next round of the Major League Soccer playoffs.
To get there, however, the Whitecaps will need to pull off the improbable by defeating the powerhouse Los Angeles FC for a second straight game.
Vancouver blanked the visitors 3-0 on Sunday to level their best-of-three first-round playoff series at a game apiece. As the matchup shifts back to California for a decisive Game 3 on Friday, the Whitecaps are looking for a repeat performance, said striker Brian White.
“We take the good and the bad from last game, learn from what we could have done better and go to LAFC with confidence and, obviously, with a whole lot of respect,” he said.
“We know that we can go there and give them a very good fight and hopefully come away with a win.”
The winner of Friday’s game will face the No. 4-seed Seattle Sounders in a one-game Western Conference semifinal on Nov. 23 or 24.
The ‘Caps finished the regular season eighth in the west with a 13-13-8 record and have since surprised many with their post-season play.
First, Vancouver trounced its regional rivals, the Portland Timbers, 5-0 in a wild-card game. Then, the squad dropped a tightly contested 2-1 decision to the top-seeded L.A. before posting a decisive home victory on Sunday.
Vancouver has scored seven goals this post-season, second only to the L.A. Galaxy (nine). Vancouver also leads the league in expected goals (6.84) through the playoffs.
No one outside of the club expected the Whitecaps to win when the Vancouver-L. A. series began, said defender Ranko Veselinovic.
“We’ve shown to ourselves that we can compete with them,” he said.
Now in his fifth season with the ‘Caps, Veselinovic said Friday’s game will be the biggest he’s played for the team.
“We haven’t had much success in the playoffs so, definitely, this is the one that can put our season on another level,” he said.
This is the second year in a row the Whitecaps have faced LAFC in the first round of the playoffs and last year, Vancouver was ousted in two straight games.
The team isn’t thinking about revenge as it prepares for Game 3, White said.
“More importantly than (beating LAFC), we want to get to the next round,” he said. “LAFC’s a very good team. We’ve come up against them a number of times in different competitions and they always seem to get the better of us. So it’d be huge for us to get the better of them this time.”
Earning a win last weekend required slowing L.A.’s transition game and limiting offensive opportunities for the team’s big stars, including Denis Bouanga.
Those factors will be important again on Friday, said Whitecaps head coach Vanni Sartini, who warned that his team could face a different style of game.
“I think the most important thing is going to be to match their intensity at the beginning of the game,” he said. “Because I think they’re going to come at us a million miles per hour.”
The ‘Caps will once again look to captain Ryan Gauld for some offensive firepower. The Scottish attacking midfielder leads MLS in playoff goals with five and has scored in all three of Vancouver’s post-season appearances this year.
Gearing up for another do-or-die matchup is exciting, Gauld said.
“Knowing it’s a winner-takes-all kind of game, being in that kind of environment is nice,” he said. “It’s when you see the best in players.”
LAFC faces the bulk of the pressure heading into the matchup, Sartini said, given the club’s appearances in the last two MLS Cup finals and its 2022 championship title.
“They’re supposed to win and we are not,” the coach said. “But it’s beautiful to have a little bit of pressure on us, too.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2024.
Each PWHL team operated under its city name, with players wearing jerseys featuring the league’s logo in its inaugural season before names and logos were announced last month.
The Toronto Sceptres, Montreal Victoire, Ottawa Charge, Boston Fleet, Minnesota Frost and New York Sirens will start the PWHL’s second season on Nov. 30 with jerseys designed to reflect each team’s identity and to be sold to the public as replicas.
Led by PWHL vice-president of brand and marketing Kanan Bhatt-Shah, the league consulted Creative Agency Flower Shop to design the jerseys manufactured by Bauer, the PWHL said Thursday in a statement.
“Players and fans alike have been waiting for this moment and we couldn’t be happier with the six unique looks each team will don moving forward,” said PWHL senior vice president of business operations Amy Scheer.
“These jerseys mark the latest evolution in our league’s history, and we can’t wait to see them showcased both on the ice and in the stands.”
Training camps open Tuesday with teams allowed to carry 32 players.
Each team’s 23-player roster, plus three reserves, will be announced Nov. 27.
Each team will play 30 regular-season games, which is six more than the first season.
Minnesota won the first Walter Cup on May 29 by beating Boston three games to two in the championship series.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
