Roughriders force late fumble at goal line, beat Alouettes 25-17 for 5th Grey Cup title

WINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP) — Tevaughn Campbell forced Montreal backup quarterback Shea Patterson’s fumble at the goal line and Marcus Sayles recovered it in the end zone with 2:53 left to help the Saskatchewan Roughriders beat the Alouettes 25-17 on Sunday night for their fifth Grey Cup title.

Saskatchewan also won Canadian Football League championships in 1966, 1989, 2007 and 2013. Montreal won the last of its eight titles in 2023.

Trevor Harris completed 23 of 27 passes for 302 yards for Saskatchewan, and the 39-year-old was selected the game MVP. Samuel Emilus had 10 catches for 108 yards, A.J. Ouellette ran for 83 yards and a TD and backup quarterback Tommy Stevens had two 1-yard scoring runs.

Sayles also had an interception for the first takeaway of the game.

Montreal starter Davis Alexander lost for the first time after winning his first 13 starts, going 11-0 over two years during the regular season and adding playoff wins over Winnipeg and Hamilton this year. Fighting a left hamstring injury, Alexander threw three interceptions. On the final play of the game, his long heave fell incomplete.

Saskatchewan led 25-7 in the third quarter on Stevens’ second touchdown and Brett Lauther’s 48-yard field goal.

Stevie Scott III had an 11-yard scoring run for Montreal on the final play of the third, and Jose Carlos Maltos made a 23-yard field goal to cut it to 25-17 midway through the fourth. The Roughriders then missed a chance to pad the lead when Lauther’s 32-yard field-goal try was wide to the right.

Montreal took a 7-1 lead late in the first quarter on Patterson’s 1-yard run. In the second quarter, Stevens scored his first TD and Ouellette ran in from 4 yards.

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