OTTAWA – Dustin Crum threw a pair of touchdown passes and ran for another to lead the Ottawa Redblacks to a 36-28 win over the visiting Saskatchewan Roughriders on Friday.
Crum finished with 243 passing yards as the Redblacks (4-10) halted a seven-game losing streak and held on to their faint playoff hopes.
The Roughriders (6-8) suffered their third straight loss and remain third in the West Division despite two touchdown passes and 291 yards from Jake Dolegala.
Ottawa got some breathing room under two minutes into the fourth quarter when Crum connected on a 32-yard catch-and-run touchdown that led to a 29-14 lead after the Michael Domagala extra point.
Crum ran for a 35-yard score seven minutes into the quarter that led to a 38-14 lead for the Redblacks after the conversion.
The final 90 seconds became interesting after Roughriders special teamer Mario Alford returned a punt 106 yards for a score cutting the Redblacks lead to 36-20 after a failed two-point conversion.
Saskatchewan then recovered an onside kick, and a few plays later Antonia Pipkin scored on a one-yard run with 60 seconds to play. The two-point conversion pass to Samuel Emilius was good and suddenly it was 36-28.
It would get no closer.
It took only 22 seconds for the Redblacks to put up 11 points at the end of the first half and turn a 13-8 deficit into a 19-13 lead at the midway point of the game.
An interception by Deandre Lamont at midfield and returned to the Saskatchewan six-yard line led to a touchdown pass from Crum to Bralon Addison on the next play. The two-point conversion, a pass from Crum to Justin Hardy, gave the Redblacks a 16-13 lead.
On the ensuing series, a fumble recovery by the Redblacks led to a 42-yard field goal by Domagala at the buzzer sent the home team into the break with a 19-13 lead.
The game was tied 7-7 to start the second quarter but a 54-yard touchdown pass from Dolegala to Samuel Emilus just over a minute into the quarter put the Western Riders up 13-7 after a failed conversion.
A 54-yard punt single by Ritchie Leone narrowed that lead to 13-8 with just over three minutes to play in the half before the defence allowed the offence to shine.
Saskatchewan opened the scoring in the first quarter on an 11-yard touchdown strike for Dolegala to Kian Schaffer-Baker nine minutes into the game. Brett Lauther’s extra point put the Riders up 7-0.
Ottawa drew even before the end of the quarter when Tyrell Pigrome scored on a one-yard run and Domagala converted the extra point in the final minute of the quarter.
The Redblacks outscored the Riders 3-1 in the third quarter. After Adam Korsak delivered a 55-yard punt single early in the quarter cutting the lead to 19-14, Domagala hit on a 32-yard field goal with three minutes to play in the quarter to send the Redblacks into the final quarter with a 22-14 lead.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 22, 2023.
