Saskatchewan Roughriders safety Mike Edem celebrates after a play during a 30-13 win over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats at Mosaic Stadium on June 11, 2022. (Saskatchewan Roughriders)

By Britton Gray, CJME News

Riders’ defence dominates, offence surges in fourth quarter for 30-13 win over Ti-Cats

Jun 12, 2022 | 9:32 AM

Kian Schaffer-Baker gave the fans something to cheer about — and an unprompted meet and greet — after scoring the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ first touchdown in a 30-13 win over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Saturday.

Schaffer-Baker ran a corner route and caught a pass from quarterback Cody Fajardo in the corner of the south end zone at Mosaic Stadium for the team’s first touchdown of the CFL game with just three minutes left in the fourth quarter.

Schaffer-Baker and right tackle Na’Ty Rodgers then decided to take a Pilsner Plunge and celebrate among the Rider faithful in Pil Country during the home opener. Paid attendance for the game was 28,216.

“It was crazy. They were going nuts in there so I was just feeding off that,” Schaffer-Baker said. “Me and Na’Ty, we were talking about it. I was distracted doing a little dance and then he came over and said, ‘Let’s go party in the end zone. Let’s go into Pil Country.’ ”

It was far from a fast start for the Riders’ offence in the contest, mustering only 67 passing yards in the first half. But the Riders eventually found their stride in the second portion of the game.

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Fajardo settled in after a tough first half. The 30-year-old quarterback admitted he was dealing with an injury after a hit by Simoni Lawrence in the first quarter, which drew an unnecessary roughness call.

“I was dealing with something so to have that halftime, I just felt like myself again in the third quarter,” Fajardo said. “It felt good to finish. That was one of our big talks offensively, and (offensive co-ordinator Jason Maas) implemented with our offence. Finish was our word of the year.

“To have that come full circle our first game, it shows our guys that it means a lot.”

Fajardo, who is trying to recapture 2019’s magic, leaned on his top target from that season in Shaq Evans in the second half. The receiver, who was held without a catch in the first half, finished with four receptions for 92 yards.

“Shaq’s back 100 per cent. When Shaq is 100 per cent, he’s one of the best receivers in the league.” Fajardo said.

Fajardo finished the game with 22 completions on 32 attempts for 311 yards. A huge part of that was the play of the offensive line, which didn’t surrender a sack to a talented Hamilton defence.

Along with his passing touchdown, Fajardo ran in a one-yard touchdown after a Derrick Moncrief interception.

While it took a while for the party to get started for the offence, the defence was ready to go from the start.

On the second play of the game, defensive end Pete Robertson hit the ball out of the hands of Ti-Cats quarterback Dane Evans, forcing an early turnover.

“That was the idea throughout the whole week — start fast. Your first impression could be your last, so we wanted to make this game clear that we are here to play,” Robertson said.

That play ended up being a precursor for how dominant the defence would be for the game. Riders defenders pressured Evans all game, registering eight sacks. Robertson had two while Roland Milligan, Mike Edem, Larry Dean, A.C. Leonard, Charleston Hughes and Charbel Dabire each contributed with one.

“Once we really got in our rhythm and sat down in our defence in general, I feel like we played really well in all three levels,” Robertson said. “I wanted to give big props to our linebackers, they were just flying today. It makes it easy for us.”

The pressure also led to five Hamilton turnovers, with Milligan and Robertson forcing two fumbles from Evans and defensive back Nick Marshall and Moncrief each picking off a pass. Hughes’ sack also led to a fumble from Hamilton backup Matt Shiltz.

Evans finished the game with 18 completions on 28 attempts for 222 yards, a touchdown to Steven Dunbar Jr. and two interceptions.

While it was only one of eight, Dean’s sack meant the world to the 33-year-old linebacker. It was Dean’s first game since 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and a torn Achilles suffered one day before last season’s camp.

“It’s just a testament to the journey that I’ve been on since COVID and not having football in my life — having it at arm’s reach but not being able to play it. It meant everything to me (to play again),” Dean said. “I really love this game.”

After a performance that saw him record seven tackles and a sack, Dean stayed out on the field while many of his teammates had gone back to the locker room to celebrate.

“I just want to take everything in. Sometimes you move so fast and you go back and it’s could’ve, should’ve, would’ve and this time around on this journey, I’m going to take everything step by step and be in the moment and that’s exactly what I was doing,” Dean said. “You go numb. You hear the crowd and then it fades away.”

“I was super proud of Larry. Larry is one of my favourite people. He is just an outstanding human being and a really good football player (and) a good man,” Saskatchewan head coach Craig Dickenson said. “Larry stuck around the whole year last year with an Achilles injury and he didn’t have to.

“He’s an outstanding individual and I couldn’t be happier for him to see him have success.”

While it wasn’t a perfect game, all that matters for the Riders is they are starting the season with a win in a year they hope to play in a Grey Cup game in Regina come November.

“I’m proud of them. I thought we started a little slow but the defence kept us in it but I felt like our conditioning kicked in in that fourth quarter,” Dickenson said.

“It’s fun to play in front of the home crowd and you want to get off to a good start. I’m proud of the team and we’re certainly happy to be 1-and-0.”

Fans notice empty seats at home opener

As the Riders kicked off their 2022 season, some in the stands or watching on television were probably surprised to see almost 5,000 empty seats at Mosaic Stadium.

The attendance Saturday was just over 28,000 for the first home game of the season.

Speaking to fans at Mosaic Stadium prior to the game, there were a variety of reasons why people felt some stayed away.

“Things have been changing over the last few years,” said one man. “Disposable income is hard to come by and people have better things to do and other things to do.”

Another fan we spoke with said he has season tickets and lives in Saskatoon. With gas prices the way they are, he doubts he’ll be able to attend every game this year.

“I have season tickets, but unfortunately with the price of everything, I’m probably only going to hit four or five games tops, maybe,” he explained.

Others suggested kids are still in school and it is still too early for families to go out and take part. Some also mentioned we’re still coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic and people are still nervous to be around big crowds.