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The football gods wrote a script Saturday night at Griffiths Stadium even Disney would say was too fantastical.
A graduated university icon returning to his home field, catching the game-winning touchdown in front of friends and family while wearing the jersey of his childhood team.
That dream was realized for Rosetown’s Daniel Wiebe, as his late fourth quarter touchdown secured a 31-27 victory for the Saskatchewan Roughriders over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the first CFL pre-season contest held in Saskatoon since 1991.
“Doing it here at the Huskies stadium here, it’s crazy,” Wiebe said post-game. “It means a lot, tons of family out here supporting me too and friends as well. Super excited, it doesn’t really quite feel real yet.”
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The single-season and all-time receiving touchdowns leader for the University of Saskatchewan Huskies caught the biggest ball of his football career with 45 seconds left from a throw by Brayden Schager.
“You think about it a lot for sure making the game-winner,” Wiebe said. “There’s a lot to be worked on, but I’m super excited for it right now.”
Wiebe has impressed in his second training camp with the Roughriders and his first since graduating from the U Sports level.
Saskatchewan head coach Corey Mace said it was a memorable moment for a small, but determined wide receiver who has done everything they’ve asked of him.
“It happens and you’re just like, ‘Of course it was supposed to happen like that,’” Mace said.
“I’m truly so incredibly proud of that kid, super happy that he was able to have that moment here. He’s been working his tail off, challenged the kid in the off-season. He’s answered so many questions that we had for him and he deserved that.”
It was a late game drive overcoming adversity for the Roughriders quarterback Schager, who was only able to see out of one eye after being poked by a Winnipeg player earlier in the fourth quarter.
“It makes it all worth it,” Schager said. “I’ll take all the pain I can get if we can get a win, and I can go out there and perform for my teammates.”
While the game finished in storybook fashion for Saskatchewan, it didn’t start that way as Winnipeg opened the game with a lengthy drive which included three big first down passes from Zach Collaros to Tim White to put the Blue Bombers in the red zone.
Star running back Brady Oliveira needed just two yards to punch the ball in for the touchdown on third down, giving Winnipeg an early 7-0 lead.
Saskatchewan was quick to respond with Trevor Harris completing three consecutive throws, including two deep passes to KeeSean Johnson and Kian Schaffer-Baker to put the Roughriders down to the two-yard line.
A.J. Ouellette went airborne from there over top of the pile to get Saskatchewan on the board and tie the game at 7-7.
That was the end of the day for both Collaros and Harris, as both teams began running out their backup quarterbacks from there including Taylor Elgersma making his CFL pre-season debut for Winnipeg.
Saskatchewan gave the ball to Jack Coan under centre, who was quickly intercepted by Winnipeg’s Evan Holm on a missed throw to Johnson. Holm went untouched the rest of the way to the end zone for the 55-yard pick-six to make it a 14-7 game for the Blue Bombers.
Winnipeg and Saskatchewan traded field goals from Brady Lidster to close out the first quarter with a 50-yarder, followed up by Riders kicker Jonathan Kim on a 51-yard attempt to cut the gap to 17-10.
The Roughriders went to halftime trailing 17-14 after a second field goal by Kim from 40 yards, with Coan completing 7 of 14 pass attempts for 57 yards and an interception.
On their first possession of the second half, the Roughriders drove the length of the field as Coan threw his first touchdown pass of the night to a wide open Johnny Johnson III in the back of the end zone for Saskatchewan’s first lead of the night 21-17.
“It’s just good to be back out here,” Johnson III said. “I missed all last year, didn’t play any football dealing with injury. It feels good to be back out there, good to be in the end zone.”
Winnipeg responded on their next possession as they drove deep into Roughriders territory, until a pass from Elgersma was picked off by Saskatchewan defensive back James Burgess Jr. for the timely interception.
Saskatchewan gave the ball back shortly after with Schager in the game as his pass to Daniel Wiebe was bobbled and caught before landing on the turf by Winnipeg’s Ridge Texada.
The Blue Bombers only got four plays out on that possession however, with Roughriders first round pick Malcolm Bell coming up with his first career CFL interception to close out the third quarter.
After suffering his eye injury early in the fourth quarter, Schager returned to the game with just over 10 minutes left and immediately threw a pick-six interception to Winnipeg linebacker Ja’Kobe Clinton who took it back to the house for the 24-21 lead.
Winnipeg extended their lead to 27-21 with 4:27 left from a Lidster 33-yard field goal, putting the pressure on Saskatchewan late.
A Kim field goal with 2:34 left from 35 yards out closed the gap to three for the home side, before the Roughriders got a big defensive stop to take over at their own 11 yard line.
Schager moved the ball up field with a few key throws to Abdul Janneh Jr. and D’Sean Mimbs, before finding Wiebe across the goal line on first down to take the 31-27 lead with limited vision in his right eye.
“I couldn’t see out of the right eye great,” Schager said. “It’s coming back a little bit now, but there were sometimes where I kind of had to close my eye and just throw with the left eye.”
Winnipeg’s hopes of a comeback were dashed with 12 seconds left, as quarterback Bryce Perkins had his pass intercepted by Vi Jones in front of the 7,654 fans in attendance at Griffiths Stadium.
Mace said the crowd Saturday for the first pre-season game in Saskatoon in 35 years rose to the occasion and provided plenty of energy from the sidelines.
“It was very similar to I thought the Halifax games you know what I mean?” Mace said.
“While the crowd might be smaller in size by numbers, it was still loud out there. We definitely felt obviously like it was a home game, just happy we can come out with a win for Rider Nation.”
The Roughriders finish the pre-season with a 1-1 record and will head south to Regina to continue training camp on Monday.
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