Riders fall short to Alouettes in Harris return

The Saskatchewan Roughriders did not have much go their way in Friday night’s matchup against the Montreal Alouettes as the team fell short 27-24.

The Riders had the chance to tie it up late with a field goal but kicker Brett Lauther missed the 48-yard attempt. It was a tough night for Lauther who missed four field goals on the night and was easily the target of criticism for the loss.

“Single handedly losing that one for the guys was tough. It’s unacceptable. I feel like the biggest liability on the team right now. The guys will try to eat this one for me but that’s solely on me. There’s no excuses for going out and doing that,” said Lauther following the game.

“It’s not on Brett. It’s not on one player. I know that’s what people may do but I would urge people caution on that. Brett’s been a heck of a kicker for a long time and we’re really happy to have Brett Lauther,” said quarterback Trevor Harris in his defence.

Head Coach Corey Mace also offered words of encouragement about the ordeal.

“I know it’s easy to just point to one person but there’s lots of stuff we could have done in crucial moments to not even put ourselves in that situation (to have to kick a field goal). It just wasn’t his day man. You know he’s made a ton of big kicks for this team in the past and have full faith in the guy,” said Mace.

“Speaking to him during the day I said, ‘I got a feeling it’s going to come down to the last one and we set him out there because we have faith in the guy. Tough day for 12 but you know we love him.”

The team had a few other calls not go their way as Command Centre reviews cost them possessions late in the game and a pass interference call on Marcus Sayles that did not end in their favour helped lead the Alouettes to their game winning touchdown.

“Honestly I don’t think it was pass interference. I think I played him pretty well. The call just changed the momentum and it put us in a situation where we had to fight for our lives unfortunately,” said Sayles.

“It’s out of my control right? I can only challenge things that I could at that point. I thought the receiver kind of flopped and fell but they called that. The Command Centre is there to get the call right and if that’s what they rule, that’s what they rule. We have to continue to play,” said Mace.

However, the Riders may feel a bit jaded about the Command Centre after their call back last week that overturned their win and landed the team with a tie versus the Redblacks and now feeling that a few calls cost them the game perhaps again.

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“Man it feels like something for sure. It’s hard because it’s something we can’t really control but just have to keep putting our best foot forward,” said Sayles.

It was a highly anticipated matchup with the return of Trevor Harris and the top team in the West Division facing off against the top team in the East and overall.

Harris threw for 335 yards and two touchdowns in his return. Running back A.J. Ouellette also made his presence known with 77 rushing yards after missing the last three games due to injury. However the team has not won a game now in four weeks and will have a quick turnaround to face the Toronto Argonauts on Thursday.

“I think we should have won that one tonight and this one’s going to sting for 24 hours. But 24 hour rule. I always tell the guys you have 24 hours to sulk but then turn the page and we move on to Toronto,” said Harris.