The Canadian Press
REGINA — The Ottawa REDBLACKS clinched a home playoff berth on Friday night with their incredible 33-32 comeback victory against the Saskatchewan Roughriders in the game’s final minutes. Ottawa has now moved past the Toronto Argonauts for first place in the East Division as they prepare for an exciting final stretch, and they have shown the league that they are as resilient a group as you will come across.
“Huge deal to make the playoffs,” Ottawa head coach Rick Campbell said after the win. “Really excited and obviously we got a whole bunch of work to do.”
Friday night’s comeback was the second game in a row that Ottawa rallied back from a significant deficit to claim victory, having engineered a comeback against the BC Lions last weekend. Despite surrendering 387 yards and two scores through the air, including 231 yards from receiver Duron Carter alone, Ottawa’s defence managed to hold the Riders to six field goals and even found the end zone on a pivotal interception from defensive back Antoine Pruneau.
The REDBLACKS’ ability to bend but not break on defence ended up making the crucial difference, and quarterback Trevor Harris looked to his defence for one more chance at a comeback attempt in the fourth quarter.
“I just told the defence ‘give us one stop’ and let’s go win this thing,” Harris told TSN’s Lee Jones after the win. “We knew we had to play perfect down the stretch, but it wasn’t pretty at all. That’s the way the CFL is; you grind out wins.”
Harris played a major role once again in Friday night’s comeback win, finishing the game with 262 passing yards and two touchdowns in his second game back from injury. After missing extended time with a shoulder injury, the veteran quarterback has led his team to two comeback wins. Harris has brought a major spark back to the REDBLACKS’ offence right when they needed it the most.
“He’s a guy that always believes, and always works and keeps going no matter the situation, whether he’s ahead of behind,” Campbell said about his quarterback after the win. “He kept believing that we were gonna find a way to get it done, and he got it done for us.”
Harris said after the game that he is looking forward to finishing the season strong and riding their momentum into the playoffs. The team is off next week before they host the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in Week 19.
“It’s a good feeling,” Harris said.”I finally get to play in a playoff game if I can stay healthy. As long as we can continue to be on the uprise – we finally get a bye week – so maybe you will see a rejuvenated team.”
With both the REDBLACKS and Argos holding seven wins apiece, Campbell said he is looking forward to battling it out down the stretch to see who will clinch the division once and for all.
“It’s going to be to be a battle all the way until the end with us and Toronto,” Campbell said. “We have one more game to go and that’s it, and I think they have two so it’s gonna come down to the wire. It’s gonna be exciting.”
