ROBSERVATIONS: Opportunism won the day … Anton Amundrud deserves standing ovation … KeeSean Johnson enters exclusive territory

Watching Friday’s game on TV in the company of Candy, my all-world growler, I expertly concluded that the Saskatchewan Roughriders were dogged by a lack of opportunism.

So many chances!

Yet, the B.C. Lions emerged with a 31-24 CFL victory and therefore won the season series with Saskatchewan. Both teams emerged with 8-6 records.

It was the second successive defeat for the Roughriders, who flipped the script from their 19-6 loss in Winnipeg on Sept. 12.

At Princess Auto Stadium, an ineffective Saskatchewan offence negated a robust performance by the defence.

The offence was far more productive on Friday — topping B.C. in first downs (23-21) and time of possession (33:56-26:04) — but the Roughriders had difficulty harnessing a Nathan Rourke-led Lions attack.

“The explosion plays came at bad times,” Roughriders Head Coach Corey Mace told CKRM’s Luc Mullinder at BC Place. “Ultimately, I just thought we needed to create a turnover. We couldn’t get one. We’ve just got to tighten up.

“I was pretty pleased with our offence, for the most part.”

That said, there was room for improvement.

Saskatchewan was 2-for-5 inside the red zone. B.C. was 4-for-5. All four of Rourke’s TD passes were in the range of 11 to 19 yards.

The Roughriders were at the Lions’ 19 when Trevor Harris looked for Kian Schaffer-Baker in the end zone. Schaffer-Baker was open by a step or two, but the pass hit an upright. Saskatchewan settled for a field goal to conclude its first possession.

Three points also was the consolation prize early in the second quarter. On second-and-six from the Lions’ 16, Saskatchewan attempted to cross up B.C. with a draw play. A.J. Ouellette was surrounded and immediately tackled.

In the third quarter, Saskatchewan marched to the nine-yard line before the Lions stopped short-yardage quarterback Tommy Stevens on third down.

And then there were the aforementioned “explosion plays,” both of which opened two-play touchdown drives by the Lions.

Immediately after Dawson Hodge’s first of three field goals had given Saskatchewan a 3-0 lead, Rourke found Stanley Berryhill III for a 56-yard gain. Then came a 14-yard TD pass to Keon Hatcher Sr.

Hodge’s final field goal, which pared the Lions’ lead to 24-16, was quickly countered when Rourke somehow escaped the Roughriders’ clutches and collaborated with Justin McInnis for a 59-yard advance. Cue an 11-yard TD toss to Jermaine Jackson, who scored with 2:58 left in the game. Sean Whyte’s convert concluded the Lions’ scoring.

Long gainers by Berryhill III and McInnis helped the Lions average 10 yards per offensive play. The Roughriders’ average was 6.5.

Saskatchewan ran far more offensive plays (59-44), but B.C. extracted more from them.

None of this seemed to bother the dog. When there was growling, it emanated from my side of the bed.

APPLAUSE FOR AMUNDRUD

There is not a better story in the football universe than that of Anton Amundrud.

The Lloydminster-born quarterback is once again lacerating opposing secondaries on behalf of the University of Saskatchewan Huskies after his 2025 season was shortened by a cancer diagnosis.

Over the first three games of the 2026 Canada West season, Amundrud has thrown for 879 yards and nine TDs.

Six — yes, six — of those majors were recorded on Sept. 18 in Edmonton against the University of Alberta Golden Bears.

Leading up to today’s game between the Huskies and the host University of Regina Rams, Arash Madani appeared on CKRM’s SportsCage and offered his insights on the amazing Amundrud.

“I’ve talked on the show about Anton’s recovery and the hell he has been through,” Madani said. “It’s incredible. Do you know what else is incredible? Throwing for six touchdowns in a university football game.

“He went from 205 to 173 pounds. He was skin and bones. And then the first week of April, he gets the clean bill of health. His first call was to his parents to let them know, ‘Hey, I'm cancer free.’ His mom started to cry. The next call was to Joel Lipinski, the Huskies' strength coach. And he had one message for Joel: ‘Let’s let it rip.’

“We’re talking about a dude who just a few months before couldn’t walk up the stairs or do a pushup. His knees were too weak to even think about breaking a sweat. And then they had to turn them back into a university football quarterback.

“The journey started with building Anton’s joint stability back, and then his cardio. He began walking on a treadmill the first day and he lasted only two minutes. But then they incrementally started increasing the volume. Then they started building shoulder strength and shoulder stability.

“One of the biggest challenges they had — this was the big one, because you’re throwing the football and you’re a quarterback — was getting the shoulder back to what it was, with the external and internal rotation.

“So they went from all of that, literally from rock bottom, to getting back on the field in May, doing some individual work, and now he’s out there slinging it and throwing six touchdowns.

“Man, it’s an amazing story.”

After attending the Roughriders’ training camp in 2025, Amundrud enjoyed a scorching start to last season. He threw for 1,604 yards and 14 TDs over five games, emerging as a top candidate for the Hec Crighton Award — presented to the best player in Canadian university.

Then came the devastating diagnosis of T-cell non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis.

Look at him now.

Before he even throws a pass today, he deserves a standing ovation.

Today’s Rams-Huskies game is slated for 2 p.m., at Mosaic Stadium.

JOHNSON JOTTINGS

Nine catches, 119 yards.

Another night at the office for the Roughriders’ KeeSean Johnson.

On Friday in Vancouver, the 29-year-old wideout fattened his season totals to 95 catches and 1,178 yards.

With four games remaining before the playoffs, Johnson is 28 catches shy of tying Don Narcisse’s franchise single-season record of 123, set in 1995.

Johnson needs to average seven catches per game to tie Narcisse. KeeSean’s average to date: 6.78. So, yes, it could happen.

Narcisse and Johnson are already deadlocked for the fifth-best receptions total in Roughriders history. Narcisse caught 95 passes in 1998.

Barring unforeseen developments, Johnson will soon join the Roughriders’ exclusive 100-receptions club.

The fraternity consists of Narcisse (with his team-record total in 1995) and three players who had 102 catches — Joey Walters (1982), Craig Ellis (1985) and Curtis Marsh (2000).

Oddity: The Roughriders have never made the playoffs when their leading receiver catches 100-plus passes.

Johnson should change all that.

A victory over the visiting Calgary Stampeders on Friday would clinch a post-season berth for the Green and White.

ROLL CREDITS …

• Nice people who deserve a plug: Barry Zerr, Rylee Cohen, Anton Amundrud, Ray Fournier, Duane Cook, Habakkuk Baldonado, Bob Krause, Wade Jensen, Gregg Drinnan, Dr. Tom Robinson, Jamie Nye, Trevor Linden, Dawson Hodge, Joshua Bell, Dr. Tom Robinson, Kevin Cheveldayoff, Stuart Skinner, Bob Calder, Kian Schaffer-Baker, Don Narcisse, Joey Walters, Craig Ellis, KeeSean Johnson, Joel Lipinski and Michele Banda.