Roughriders defence dominant in 37-0 win over Ticats, spoiling Austin’s return

REGINA – The Roughriders’ defence forced three first-half turnovers and Rob Bagg caught two touchdowns as Saskatchewan spoiled Kent Austin’s return to Regina with a 37-0 win over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Sunday.

Saskatchewan (4-0) remained the only unbeaten team in the CFL while Hamilton (1-3) dropped into a three-way tie for last in the East Division.

Sunday’s game was Hamilton head coach Austin’s first in Saskatchewan since coaching the Riders to the 2007 Grey Cup.

With a north wind gusting to over 50 km/h throughout the game, Saskatchewan’s defence — ranked No. 7 in total yards allowed before the game — came up with a steady stream of big plays early before Riders quarterback Darian Durant found his groove.

The returning Eddie Russ forced the ball from the hands of Ticats receiver Greg Ellingson to give Saskatchewan the ball near midfield, and made a shoestring tackle on Samuel Giguere on Hamilton’s next possession to force a third-and-one attempt that came up short.

Chris Milo got Saskatchewan on the board with his first of three field goals to start the second quarter. The Riders got the ball right back when linebacker Craig Butler came up with an end zone interception on a Henry Burris pass intended for Ellingson.

Saskatchewan took a 16-0 lead into halftime after a 28-yard touchdown pass from Durant to Bagg and two more field goals from Milo, including a career-best 47-yarder with the wind at his back.

The last gasp of wind in the Ticats’ sails was snuffed out by a pass interference call near the end of the third quarter that negated a 30-plus yard interception return by Rico Murray.

Geroy Simon made his Roughriders debut and kept his streak of consecutive games with a reception alive on a six-yard catch in the first quarter.

He added a 32-yard grab in the third to set up an eight-yard TD grab by offensive lineman Dan Clark, and now has catches in 174 straight games.

The Riders padded their lead in the fourth quarter with a 60-yard TD reception by Bagg and a 28-yard touchdown grab by Weston Dressler.

Bagg finished with a game-high 125 yards on five catches.

Durant completed 20 of 32 passes for 347 yards with no interceptions. Burris went 16-for-27 for 158 yards before giving way to Dan LeFevour with five minutes to play. LeFevour finished 3-for-4 with 21 yards.