THE CANADIAN PRESS

REGINA -- For a pivot who has accomplished almost everything there is to accomplish in the CFL, Saturday marked the first time in Calvillo’s illustrious career that he ran for two touchdowns in one game.

"I'm trying to pick up first downs with my feet," said Calvillo. "I told myself I was going to do that as we get closer to the playoffs. It just helps our football team move forward and it just happened to be that I was running close to the end zone."

"We've been challenging ourselves to play consistent football which we have not done," said Calvillo. "We did a decent job last week against Toronto and we wanted to follow up with a great game which today we did."

Calvillo was playing without three of his four biggest playmakers out of the lineup with S.J. Green, Brandon London and Brandon Whitaker all sidelined.  The last two out for the season.

With their top two receivers and starting running back out, the Montreal Alouettes showed their resilience posting 356 yards of net offence in a 34-28 win Saturday over the Saskatchewan Roughriders.

Jamel Richardson caught eight passes for 161 yards and third-string tailback Chris Jennings (regular backup Victor Anderson missed the game with injury too) had 125 all-purpose yards as Montreal did just enough to stave off a late Saskatchewan comeback.

"That's all we preach is team-first," said Richardson, who set up Montreal's first touchdown -- an 18-yard pass from Anthony Calvillo to Bo Bowling -- with a 51-yard grab of his own.

"That's why I was never mad about my production because other guys were stepping up, and right now this is a total team effort."

Richardson was referring to his diminished role in Montreal this year. He led the league in receiving last season with 1,777 yards but entered Saturday's game third on the team and 12th overall with 793.

In his last two games, however, Richardson has caught 11 passes for 270 yards.

"The coaches leaned on me a little bit," he said. "They told me they were going to feed me and I'm hungry. I've been missing the whole season and now it's time to step up and time to win a championship."

The win extended Montreal's lead atop the CFL's East Division by six points over the Toronto Argonauts. The Alouettes clinched first place Friday when Toronto lost 44-32 to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

Saskatchewan meanwhile missed a chance for the second straight week to clinch a playoff berth, though a Hamilton Tiger-Cats loss to the Calgary Stampeders later Saturday would guarantee the Riders at least a crossover spot.

Montreal made the most of the breezy conditions, scoring their first 27 points with the wind at its back

"My biggest concern is to make sure this team is winning football games," said Roughriders head coach Corey Chamblin. "The playoffs don't start today. They start when they start. It's about winning football games.

"Looking too far down the road you can't do anything unless you take care of today and today we have to learn how to win football games."