'That's not the way I want to see us win games': Riders victory tainted by Marino's actions

The Saskatchewan Roughriders walked away with a 28-13 victory Friday night against the Ottawa Redblacks but a hit followed by excessive antics from defensive lineman Garrett Marino left a sour taste for many.

“It’s unacceptable you know? We don’t condone that. We are grown men, Masoli has to go home to his family,” said wide receiver, Duke Williams. “But at the end of the day that’s my teammate so I got his back no matter what. I’m going to tell him right from wrong because that’s my job.”

“We can win classy and that was not the way I want to see us win games,” said head coach, Craig Dickenson.

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Marino was acting out after his low hit on Redblacks quarterback Jeremiah Masoli with just over 5 minutes to go in the game. The hit and the antics led to a confrontation between the two teams on the field.

“I was disappointed in the antics. I mean the hit he’s trying to beat a guy around the edge, I don’t necessarily know if he tried to go low. He did go low but it was the antics afterward that really I think prompted the reaction from Ottawa’s bench,” said Dickenson.

Saskatchewan Roughriders defensive lineman Garrett Marino (92) celebrates after sacking Ottawa Redblacks quarterback Matt Nichols, not shown, during first half CFL football action in Regina on Saturday, August 21, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Kayle Neis

The major foul for rough play saw Marino get ejected from the game where he raised his helmet, patted his chest, and blew kisses to the crowd as he walked toward the tunnel.

“I’m sure the league is going to have something to say about it. I’m not sure what they’ll do but we’ll do something in house as well,” said Dickenson.

“As a leader of the team, the defence, we definitely will revisit it and have a chat with him for sure,” said linebacker, Larry Dean. “But at the end of the day he’s a grown man and he’s going to make grown man decisions. At the same time we can kind of throw down the rope and lead him to a more positive direction.”

However, earlier in the quarter Roughriders defensive end Pete Robertson was in a similar situation as Masoli when he went down on an unnecessary roughness penalty. Dickenson said his injury is serious and might be a broken foot.

“It’s a he said, she said from my stand point. I don’t really know exactly what happened,” said quarterback, Cody Fajardo. “But anytime the starting quarterback gets hurt you always see how much the team respects the person by how they fight for you and I know the same would be done for me if I was injured. Our team would get fired up.”

‘I’m going to defend him (Marino) too. He means well. He’s made big strides in the last year. Today (Friday) he took a step back and I think he feels very bad about it,” said Dickenson.

The Canadian Football League (CFL) is now reviewing the hit. Masoli’s injury is said to be “not good” according to TSN’s Farhan Lalji.