Milo kicks field goal with no time left on the clock as Roughriders win 24-21

REGINA – Chris Milo kicked a 36-yard field goal with no time left on the clock as the Saskatchewan Roughriders survived an injury-plagued game to top the Montreal Alouettes 24-21 on Saturday.

Saskatchewan (6-1) had to rally late after Jerald Brown returned a Darian Durant fumble 54 yards to give Montreal (2-5) a 21-14 lead with less than two minutes to play.

But Durant hit Taj Smith with a 60-yard touchdown pass on the next series to tie the game.

The Alouettes were forced into a two-and-out on their next possession and Weston Dressler — replacing the shaky-handed Jock Sanders on returns in the second half — brought Montreal’s punt back 38 yards to put the Riders in scoring position with 28 seconds to play.

That enough to silence the boos of the third-largest crowd ever at Mosaic Stadium, announced at 40,637, which showed its dissatisfaction with Durant through most of the third quarter.

Saskatchewan led for most of the first half despite second-quarter fumbles by Durant and Sanders.

But the Roughriders had to rally for the win after Sanders coughed up the ball again on the opening kickoff of the second half. That turnover gift-wrapped an 11-yard field goal from Montreal kicker Sean Whyte and gave the Alouettes an 11-9 lead.

The Riders tied the game when Whyte gave up a safety instead of punting from his own 11-yard line and took a temporary lead on the second play of the fourth quarter when Milo kicked a 26-yard field goal.

Whyte tied the game 14-14 on his fourth field goal of the game early in the fourth quarter and had all of Montreal’s offence up until that point, having also kicked two singles — one on his only missed field goal of the game and the other on a punt single in the third quarter.

Montreal quarterback Anthony Calvillo left the game with a suspected concussion on the first play of the second quarter after a hit from Riders defensive end Ricky Foley.

He had completed four of eight passes for 85 yards when he went down and was replaced by Josh Neiswander, who finished 12-for-30 for 147 yards with two interceptions in his CFL debut at quarterback.

Montreal’s injured list continued to grow before halftime when Brandon London took a helmet-to-helmet hit from Saskatchewan safety Tyron Brackenridge. Alouettes linebacker Kyries Hebert was sidelined on the same drive after he was kneed in the head by teammate Martin Bedard while covering a punt.

London and Hebert both left the game and also did not return.

The Roughriders weren’t immune to the injury bug either.

Wide receiver Rob Bagg went down just before halftime, appearing to injure his left knee on a routine blocking assignment. Bagg had season-ending surgery in 2012 to repair a torn ACL in the same knee.

Saskatchewan survived another scare earlier in the game when Dressler came up unable to move his left shoulder after diving out the back of the end zone for a 22-yard touchdown catch in the first quarter.

Unlike the others, Dressler was able to return to the game

Punter Ricky Schmitt also kicked two singles for Saskatchewan.

Geroy Simon became the third player in CFL history to reach 1,000 receptions on an otherwise inconspicuous four-yard catch at midfield seven minutes into the fourth quarter. He finished with two catches for 14 yards.