The Saskatchewan Roughriders improved to 28-16 all-time on Labour Day Classic weekend with a 27-23 victory over the rival Winnipeg Blue Bombers on Sunday before another sellout crowd of 30,048.
The Riders had to wait eight days to atone for their distasteful loss in Edmonton the week before and when they ran out of the tunnel to start the game on Sunday, you could tell they weren't going to be denied.
Rider running back Wes Cates upped his CFL-leading touchdown total to 11 with a pair of rushing majors while quarterback Darian Durant rushed for one of his own.
Perhaps the happiest man once the game was over was Rider middle linebacker Barrin Simpson, who was released by the Bombers last year.
"That was a game I really wanted to win," Simpson admitted. "I've had it
marked down for 365 days. I'm glad we got the 'w'. They
made it tough. It was like a college football rivalry and both teams really wanted it. It's huge for us."
Rider coach Ken Miller was equally ecstatic at the team's mastery of the Bombers.
"I'm so pleased for the men in our locker room and for our fans," Miller noted. "It was a great win for us. We played with great effort but we have to give Winnipeg some credit too. They gave us a lot of problems at times. We had a lot of positives, but some rough spots too. We'll work on those this week."
The Riders have never lost to Winnipeg with Ken Miller as their coach and they intend to continue that streak next week when they visit the Bombers in the Banjo Bowl on Sunday (11:00am kickoff Sask time).
Meanwhile congratulations are in order for the town of Avonlea, located 60 km southwest of Regina. They won the online vote for the "Where is Riderville" contest put on by the Saskatchewan Roughriders. Avonlea nudged out Weyburn, Nipawin, Yorkton and Unity as the town with the most Rider Pride. Their prize is a cheque for $25,000 from the football team.
Speaking of money, the Royal Canadian Mint released the Rider loonie last week and put three million of the coins into circulation. The Montreal Canadiens are the only other team that has had such an honour bestowed on them.
