Roughriders’ Lauther ready for Labour Day after bounce-back

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The thought of the Labour Day Classic brings up good memories for Saskatchewan Roughriders’ kicker Brett Lauther.

When asked about the annual matchup that features the Roughriders (5-6-1) against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers (5-6), the 33-year-old Nova Scotia product had nothing but good things to say.

“It’s always a fun one,” Lauther said in advance on Sunday’s sold-out game at Mosaic Stadium (5 p.m., TSN) in Week 13 of the CFL season. “Always feels like a playoff game.

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“Super thankful to have the opportunity to go out and play in another one.”

The 59th edition of the Labour Day Classic will be Lauther’s sixth in his career since becoming Saskatchewan’s primary placekicker in 2018. He was a member of the Riders’ practice roster in 2015 and 2017 but didn’t appear in the game.

In his first appearance in 2018, Lauther went 5-for-5 in his field goal attempts in a 31-23 win by Saskatchewan.

While that debut set the bar high for Lauther, his second appearance is still hard to top.

On Sept. 1, 2019, Lauther kicked a 26-yard field goal through the north end zone uprights to give the Riders a 19-17 walk-off victory over the Blue Bombers.

Following the kick, Lauther and veteran punter Jon Ryan — who served as the holder — sprinted into Pil Country, located behind Mosaic Stadium’s south end zone.

And while the celebration seemed to be a spur of the moment, the duo joked about it during practice leading up to the game.

“Three days prior, we kind of talked about it on the field,” said Lauther.

In fact, Ryan — a Regina native who was in his first season with Saskatchewan after a 12-year NFL career — brought it up again during the game after Winnipeg took a 17-16 lead late in the fourth quarter.

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“He comes down to the net — and he usually doesn’t talk too much to me in the game — and I think he’s going to have some inspirational words or wisdom and all he says to me is ‘It’s Pil Country time,’ ” Lauther recalled this week.

Saskatchewan’s offence — led by quarterback Cody Fajardo at the time — marched 87 yards on 11 plays to allow Lauther to kick a 26-yard field goal.

He split the uprights before taking off Pil Country with Ryan.

“He started sprinting right away and I was just like, I can’t let this 40-year-old beat me to the end zone,” smirked Lauther. “It was something that is going to stand out forever and all jokes aside, it’s something I’ll look back on and never forget in my life.

“It was electric and such a fun night with the guys too.”

After Saskatchewan lost in 2021 and 2022, Lauther made all five of his field goal attempts in a 32-30 overtime win last season.

This year, the veteran kicker enters the game having just bounced back from one of the worst performances of his career.

Two weeks ago, Lauther missed four of his seven field goal attempts in a 27-24 loss to the Montreal Alouettes. He responded by connecting on all four of his field goal attempts in a 20-19 loss to the Toronto Argonauts in Week 12.

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“It’s just another game and we lost, so honestly it wasn’t great,” said Lauther, whose team is on a five-game winless skid. “I’d rather play really bad and have the team win than play good and have us lose.

“Any time after a game like that for sure the first one going back out is usually the toughest. But I had a few days to prepare and just went into it like any other game.

“Hopefully we can get back on track and win one here.”

tshire@postmedia.com

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