Fajardo shines as Roughriders beat Argonauts 32-7 in Canada Day clash

It wasn’t just lightning and rain flying through the air at Mosaic Stadium on Monday night.

The Saskatchewan Roughriders’ passing offence was high-flying with Cody Fajardo at the helm for the second straight game as the Roughriders beat the Toronto Argonauts in a Canada Day clash 32-7.

It has been a long journey for Fajardo on his journey to getting his first win as a starting quarterback in the CFL. Fajardo spent two years in Toronto behind Ricky Ray and then a season with the B.C. Lions behind Travis Lulay and Jonathon Jennings.

“I’ve questioned a lot in my career of why I’ve been held back and why I haven’t gotten an opportunity and God had a reason why He held me back. To have two games like this back to back, it’s truly a blessing,” Fajardo said Monday after the victory.

Fajardo was given the starting job after Zach Collaros went down with an injury in Week 1 against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

Fajardo finished Monday’s game completing 24 of 31 passes for 430 yards and two touchdowns. He also finished with a rushing touchdown as well.

“When you’re a backup (quarterback) for so long, you get to see things and you don’t get thrown into the fire,” Fajardo said. “(Ray and Lulay) really helped me out and helped me stick in this league.”

It was a quick start for Fajardo and the offence Monday.

Fajardo threw for 293 yards in the first half. That’s the most by a Roughriders quarterback in a single half since Darian Durant threw for 296 in the second half on Sept. 17, 2010, in a 43-37 overtime win over the Calgary Stampeders.

Fajardo’s favourite target early was Kyran Moore.

He found Moore on the final offensive play of the first quarter for a 98-yard touchdown pass.

“Honestly when I threw the ball, when I released it I was like, ‘Uh-oh,’ because I saw the free safety going over there and that’s one I call a little sprinkle of Jesus because He kind of sprinkled it and put it in the right place,” Fajardo said. “That got the offence going, it gets the defence motivated because we got a touchdown.”

It was the longest pass completion for the Roughriders since 2002 when Nealon Greene connected with Derick Armstrong for a 100-yard TD. The longest touchdown pass in franchise history was 107 yards and was thrown by Kent Austin to Jeff Fairholm in 1990.

Moore finished the game with 127 yards on four catches including the long touchdown grab.

“I’ve got just as much confidence in Cody as I do in Zach (Collaros),” Moore said. “(Fajardo) came in and showed leadership and he showed that he can ball.”

Despite throwing for 790 yards in his first two starts, Fajardo said he’s willing to step back into the backup role once Collaros is healthy.

“My job when I signed here was being the backup and my role as a player right now is to help this team win as much as I can while I get the opportunity (to start),” Fajardo said. “(Collaros is) just a great guy and he’s been a great guy to me.”

While Fajardo got his first win as a starting quarterback, head coach Craig Dickenson also got the first Gatorade shower of his career as a team’s top bench boss.

“It’s special but it’s special to win any game,” Dickenson said. “Wins are hard to come by in pro sports so I’m very proud of those men in that (locker room). They work their tails off and they do what we ask them.”

While it was an important milestone for him, he says the entire locker room benefits from getting the first win of the year.

“I think (getting the first win) takes weight off of everyone in that room because you can still be relevant even if you go 0-and-3, but it gets harder,” Dickenson said. “The message you’re trying to send to the guys about trusting the process and putting in the work day-in and day-out, they need to see some results.”

Fans had to wait a little longer, and run for shelter, before they could see the Roughriders get their first win of the season to move to 1-2 on the year.

Lightning strikes south Regina during a thunderstorm on July 1, 2019, which delayed the CFL football game between the Saskatchewan Roughriders and Toronto Argonauts at Mosaic Stadium. (Andrew Shepherd/980 CJME)

A two-hour lightning delay happened just before the end of the second quarter.

Dickenson said you can’t prepare for something like that as a coach.

“We just tried to reload,” Dickenson said. “We really try to have a next-play mentality here where if you make a mistake or something bad happens, you just erase it, refocus and go to the next play. That’s the same approach we took with the delay. (It was) out of our control and let’s just sit down and relax and when it’s time to refocus we will go.”

Along with an offence that was firing on all cylinders, the Roughriders’ defence bounced back after giving up 44 points to the Ottawa Redblacks in a 44-41 loss June 20.

Derrick Moncrief and Nick Marshall both had interceptions in Monday’s game, ending the two-game streak without the defence forcing a turnover.

The defence also got to the quarterback four times, including two sacks from defensive end Charleston Hughes.

“I thought we did a really good job in the back end of making sure the ball was in front of us. I thought the defensive line was more involved this week. They were getting after the quarterback way more,” Dickenson said.

Safety Mike Edem said it has been long overdue for this Roughriders team to get its first win.

“I think we just wanted to get a win for ourselves and for this coaching staff,” Edem said. “I think it’s big for this organization and even (general manager Jeremy O’Day) was excited.”

Despite the stout defensive effort, Edem said they weren’t pleased with everything.

“We were trying to pitch a shutout but the fact they scored seven shows we’ve got to do better,” Edem said. “There’s some things we left out on that field.”

The Roughriders will now turn their attention to their Week 4 game, a West Division showdown with the Stampeders on Saturday at Mosaic Stadium.

The Stampeders earned their first win of the season in Week 3 as well, completing a 36-32 comeback against the Lions.