Roughriders remain undefeated after beating Argos 30-20 in Patterson’s first start

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The Saskatchewan Roughriders are 4-0 for the first time since 2013.

Quarterback Shea Patterson, who was making his first career CFL start in place of the injured Trevor Harris, threw for one touchdown and ran in another as the Riders beat the visiting Toronto Argonauts 30-23 on Thursday night in Week 5 of the CFL season.

Meanwhile Saskatchewan’s defence intercepted Argonauts’ quarterback Cameron Dukes four times helping secure Saskatchewan the victory in front of 22,923 fans at Mosaic Stadium.

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Scoring summary

Early in the game, the Riders found themselves in a hole as Argonauts’ returner Janarion Grant took back Saskatchewan’s first punt of the game 84 yards for a touchdown to put Toronto up 6-0 after an unsuccessful two-point convert.

Later in the first quarter on Toronto’s third drive of the game, Riders’ linebacker C.J. Avery knocked the ball loose from Argos’ running back Ka’Deem Carey and it was scooped up by Saskatchewan linebacker Jameer Thurman at Toronto’s 47-yard line.

Saskatchewan turned that into three points as Brett Lauther kicked a 48-yard field goal to make it 6-3.

To start the second quarter, the Argos made it 9-3 with a 48-yard field goal of their own before Patterson put together an eight-play, 94-yard drive capped off by a 34-yard touchdown pass to Samuel Emilus, who spun and eluded defenders on the way to the end zone.

With the convert, the Riders took the 10-9 lead with 5:22 left in the first half.

As Toronto tried to retake the lead, Saskatchewan defensive back Deontai Williams intercepted Dukes near midfield before Lauther missed a 57-yard field goal to end the half.

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After a 46-yard kickoff return by Saskatchewan’s Mario Alford to open the third quarter, Patterson found Emilus and Kian Schaffer-Baker for first downs before Lauther connected on a 28-yard field goal to make it 13-9.

The Argonauts responded with a 40-yard field goal to make it 13-12.

On Toronto’s next series, Dukes was picked off by Rolan Milligan Jr. before Patterson connected with KeeSean Johnson for a 23-yard gain.

Two plays later, Patterson kept it himself and ran it into the end zone from nine yards to make it 20-12 for the Riders with the convert.

The Argonauts responded on the next series with a 12-play, 69-yard drive, capped off by a short touchdown run by Carey. Dukes then connected with Rasheed Bailey for the two-point convert to tie the game 20-20 early in the fourth quarter.

After a Saskatchewan punt, Dukes looked to put another drive together with just over six minutes left but he was intercepted by Riders’ defensive back Marcus Sayles, who returned it 46 yards for the touchdown to put Saskatchewan up 27-20 with the convert.

On Toronto’s next series, Dukes was intercepted by Milligan for a second time and the defensive back returned it 49 yards to the Toronto 11-yard line.

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From there, Lauther kicked a short field goal to put the Riders up 30-20 with 3:13 left.

After replacing Dukes at quarterback, Nick Arbuckle put together a seven-play, 35-yard drive before stalling out at Saskatchewan’s 35-yard line.

Toronto kicked a 42-yard field goal to make it a 30-23 game with 1:56 left.

From his own 13-yard line, Patterson connected with Mitch Picton for a pair of first downs, which helped Saskatchewan run down the clock and secure the victory.

Next up

Saskatchewan will visit the B.C. Lions on July 13 while the Argonauts play the Montreal Alouettes on July 18.

More to come…

tshire@postmedia.com

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