Trevor Harris knows the road to the Grey Cup

One must travel back in time nine years to find what still stands — at least for the moment — as the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ most-recent road trip for Round 1 of the CFL playoffs.

Trevor Harris, who was the rival starting quarterback on Nov. 12, 2017 in Ottawa, is now poised to call signals for the Green and White in Saturday’s Western Semi-Final against the host B.C. Lions.

This time around, Harris hopes the result is more to his liking.

The Roughriders, a crossover participant in the 2017 East Division playoffs, defeated the Ottawa REDBLACKS 31-20 before experiencing a heartbreaking defeat one week later in Toronto.

Little did the Roughriders suspect at the time that they had faced one of their future marquee quarterbacks in back-to-back weeks.

Cody Fajardo, in his role as the Toronto Argonauts’ short-yardage quarterback, scored on a one-yard run with 23 seconds left in the fourth quarter to give the home side a 25-21 victory and a berth in the 105th Grey Cup Game. Fajardo was the Roughriders’ primary passer from 2019 to 2022.

Fajardo was succeeded in Saskatchewan by Harris, who signed with the Roughriders as a free agent on Feb. 14, 2023.

His talents were on full display in the 2017 Eastern Semi-Final, even in defeat.

Harris amassed 457 aerial yards — still the highest total against Saskatchewan in playoff competition.

With 37 completions in that 2017 game, Harris is in a four-way tie for the most versus the Roughriders in any game, period. Canadian Football Hall of Famers Dieter Brock (in 1984) and Doug Flutie (1991, 1993) are the only other quarterbacks to complete 37 passes against Saskatchewan.

Harris put up impressive numbers even though two starting receivers, Greg Ellingson and Jake Harty, were sidelined by injuries by game’s end.

“It was one of those games where we had fullbacks and a monster O-lineman out there playing receiver,” Harris recalls with a chuckle. “It was fun, but Saskatchewan won that game.

“It was quite a bit of a shootout, moving the ball up and down the field. Then (the Roughriders) went on to the East Final and lost to Ricky Ray and the Argos. Then the Argos won the Grey Cup.”

Ricky Ray and the Argos also won the Grey Cup in 2012, capping Harris’ first CFL season.

He spent four years in Toronto before quarterbacking the REDBLACKS (2016 to 2018), Edmonton Elks (2019-21), Montreal Alouettes (2021-22) and, of course, the Roughriders.

Harris became a third-time CFL champion on Nov. 16, completing 23 of 27 passes for 302 yards to help Saskatchewan defeat Montreal 25-17 at Princess Auto Stadium in Winnipeg.

Not even three weeks after receiving Grey Cup MVP honours, Harris announced he would return with the objective of helping Saskatchewan win two consecutive titles for the first time in its history.

For that to happen, the Roughriders must win on Saturday … and on the following Saturday, against the host Edmonton Elks … and on Nov. 15 when the Grey Cup is to be contested at Calgary’s McMahon Stadium.

At 10-8, the Roughriders enter the playoffs as the West Division’s third-place team. Their goal is to win in three different cities on three consecutive weekends.

It is a formidable task for a team that had descended to .500 (8-8) after four successive losses. But Harris knows — better than most, in fact — that the regular season and the playoffs can be different animals.

In 2012, he was a rookie with a 9-9 Toronto team that won it all. When Ottawa claimed CFL supremacy four years later, a sub-.500 regular-season record (8-9-1) was not a barrier to attainment of the ultimate goal.

Now Harris is a member of a Saskatchewan side that, with 10 wins, celebrated more regular-season victories than either of his first two championship teams.

“I have a deep-rooted belief in this group and the guys that we have,” he says. “There’s no group I’d rather have going into this playoff run.

“We’re fired up. It’s one of those things where you win or go home. I feel like I’ve always thrived in those situations.

“When the moment gets big, some people shrink a little bit. I’m excited for that moment.”

Harris enters the playoffs as a first-time CFL passing-yardage champion. He amassed a career-high 5,370 yards during the regular season.

“Not bad for an old man, I guess,” quips Harris, 40.

With 32 touchdown passes, he was one shy of his personal best — set with Toronto in 2015.

Only Kent Austin, with 35 in 1992, has thrown for more touchdown passes as a Roughrider.

Austin and Harris are part of exclusive fraternity, consisting of the Roughriders’ Grey Cup-winning starting quarterbacks.

Harris was preceded by Austin (1989), Ron Lancaster (1966), Kerry Joseph (2007) and Darian Durant (2013).

For Harris, Joseph and Durant, playoff victories over B.C. moved the Roughriders one important step closer to a championship.

The Lions secured hosting privileges for the Western Final by finishing second in the division, one spot ahead of Saskatchewan.

The Roughriders secured third place by defeating Edmonton 16-9 this past Saturday at Mosaic Stadium. An Edmonton victory would have bumped Saskatchewan into the East playoffs for the first time since 2017 — a year Harris remembers very well.

“Staying in the West was the route that we wanted to take, so here we are,” he says. “We’re fired up for it.

“We’ve got to get ready for the noise that they pump in artificially, because they play loud music when we’re on offence. I kind of wonder what the parameters are on that, but they pump that in there really, really loud and they do it on purpose. I’m curious about that, but we’ll be ready for everything that they bring.

“They’ve got a good offence, a good defence, good special teams, they’re well-coached, they’ve got good personnel, and a great quarterback (Nathan Rourke).

“It’s going to be a great matchup to watch. If you’re a CFL fan, you’re not going to want to miss any minute of this game.”