Johany Jutras/CFL.ca
MONTREAL — For Kevin Glenn and the Saskatchewan Roughriders, the beginning of the 2017 season didn’t start how they had hoped.
After connecting on all three field goal attempts in the contest, Tyler Crapigna had the game on his foot with no time left on the clock and his team down by a single point.
But after his field goal attempt sailed wide to the right, it was Darian Durant – who was facing his former team – and the Montreal Alouettes that took the 17-16 victory at Percival Molson Stadium.
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Darian Durant and Kevin Glenn embrace after Thursday night’s contest in Montreal (Johany Jutras/CFL.ca)
The Riders came close to a victory, as the final drive that Glenn and the Roughriders strung together put them in field goal range. The Riders pivot took his team from their own 26 yard line all the way down into Montreal territory, setting up for Crapigna’s eventual miss that sealed the single-point loss.
“Close is not good enough,” Roughriders head coach Chris Jones told reporters after the game. “You either win or lose the ball game. There’s not consolation prize for one-point losses.”
Glenn was admirable in his season debut – starting his third stint with Saskatchewan – connecting on 31 of 44 passes (70 per cent) for 298 yards, one major score and one interception.
He found chemistry with Nic Demski early in the contest, connecting with the wideout seven times for 87 yards, and running back Cameron Marshall, who rushed 11 times for 84 yards. Bakari Grant was the only Rider to find the end zone – catching a major score to go along with his six receptions for 68 yards.
But it was penalties that plagued the Roughriders in the loss.
“It’s just frustrating with how much we preach penalties and hanging onto the football that we take 21 penalties and put the ball on the ground,” said Jones. “It’s just frustrating and the guys are really frustrated because they know that they’re a good enough football team to have won the football game.”
Bakari Grant celebrates his touchdown during the contest in Montreal (Johany Jutras/CFL.ca)
Those penalties, according to Glenn, will be the main point of focus for Saskatchewan as they head back to the drawing board before next week’s contest against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
“We lost the game so I’m not very happy about it,” Glenn admitted to the media. “I think we fought hard but we have to be a little bit more disciplined on certain things. We’ll correct those. The mistakes that we made are correctable.”
Next week will be the grand opening of the new Mosaic Stadium and while the excitement is palpable for fans and members of the media alike, Glenn and the Riders are looking at it – as the old cliche goes – as just another game.
“For the guys, we’ve played a pre-season game in there, plus we’ve been practicing in there,” he said. “It’s just another game. But for the media and for the fans it’ll be the first regular season game at the new Mosaic Stadium so it’ll be exciting.”
