TORONTO – Mario Alford‘s last-second, 99-yard kick-return touchdown keeps the Saskatchewan Roughriders undefeated as they took down the injury-riddled Toronto Argonauts 39-32 at BMO Field on Friday night.
Alford popped with 172 yards on four kick returns and 71 yards on four punt returns to round out his dramatic, game-winning score in the dying stages of the cross-division matchup.
Dohnte Meyers double-dipped in the end zone for Saskatchewan, adding 125 yards on four receptions to push the Riders to their first win on Argos’ home turf since 2019.
It was a much-anticipated return to BMO Field for A.J. Ouellette, who tore up his former stomping grounds to the tune of 91 yards on 17 carries, punctuating the performance with a 25-yard touchdown. The punishing runner, who was with the Argos from 2019 to 2023, missed his only opportunity for a homecoming last season when he was out with a hip injury.
Trevor Harris was efficient on his 17 throws, completing 13 for 234 yards and two touchdowns, his one blemish being a third-quarter interception.
Jameer Thurman – who entered Week 3 with a league-leading 17 defensive plays – added a game-high seven tackles to his ledger, including a tackle for loss.
Nick Arbuckle held it down under centre for the Argonauts once again with Chad Kelly still sidelined from his fractured tibia and fibula suffered in last year’s Eastern Final win. Arbuckle completed 26 of his 33 throws for 259 yards, two touchdowns and an interception.
The Argos exit Week 3 winless for the first time since 2019, when they started 0-6.
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Arbuckle and the shorthanded Argos received the opening kickoff and got started with an aggressive march. Sparked by a 41-yard contested catch from Kevin Mital, Arbuckle drove deep into Riders territory, completing all six of his passes for 79 yards and capping the drive with a four-yard dart to Dejon Brissett in the end zone. Lirim Hajrullahu connected on the point-after to give Toronto an early 7-0 lead.
The Riders made an instant response on their opening attempt on offence. After short-yardage pivot Tommy Stevens muscled a second-and-short for 19 yards, Ouellette broke free on his first carry of the contest, pushing the pill 25 yards for the score. Brett Lauther nailed an extended extra point to even up the score 7-7.
After forcing a quick two-and-out, Saskatchewan’s offence went back to work. Alford‘s 35-yard punt return got Harris and co. on the Argos’ side of the field, and the Riders’ pivot linked up with Meyers twice, including a 32-yard grab for the score. Lauther made no mistake as the Riders raced to a 14-7 lead.
Shortly before the end of the first quarter, the Argos’ injury woes deepened as starter Kenneth George Jr. was carted off the field after an illegal block delivered by Dhel Duncan-Busby.
The Riders were not finished with their first-quarter push, as Mitchell Picton out-jumped his defender, Benjie Franklin, for a 33-yard reception, and a late hit on Harris tacked on an additional 15 yards to close out the frame. Saskatchewan trotted out for the second and, after some penalties, stalled inside the Argos’ 10-yard line as they settled for a 16-yard chip shot from Lauther – a milestone kick that pushed him over 1,000 career CFL points.
Halfway through the second quarter, Arbuckle settled in for a 17-play, 96-yard, seven-and-a-half-minute, gruelling drive. Miyan Williams got involved with five touches for 36 total yards, but the Argos could not finish from the one-yard line. Arbuckle got popped twice, and Brown’s bid was also shut down as the Riders completed the goal-line stand to turn the ball over on downs.
With less than a minute on the clock, the Argos gave no quarter to the backed-up Riders’ offence, forced a quick punt, and jogged Hajrullahu out for a 56-yard, buzzer-beating field goal to make it 17-10 at half.
The Riders came out in the second half with some fireworks, as Harris pinned one to Meyers, and the 24-year-old receiver did well to hold his balance as he burst past a crowd of light blue threads for a 70-yard major. Lauther punched in the conversion as the Riders’ lead swelled to 14 points.
After a pair of sacks ended drives for both teams – Mike Rose for Saskatchewan and Andrew Chatfield for Toronto – and a 22-yard punt return from Calvin Turner Jr., the Argos were back in scoring position. A gang of Riders defenders, led by veteran Micah Johnson, got to Arbuckle to set the Argos back, and they eventually settled for a 24-yard three-pointer from Hajrullahu to make it 24-13.
Arbuckle tried to add on with a bomb downfield to David Ungerer III, but it was played perfectly by defensive back Tevaughn Campbell, who leapt up to pick it off. The Riders’ possession would not last long, as Harris gave it right back while looking for KeeSean Johnson on a slant that Tyshon Blackburn was all over. A piling-on penalty gave the Argos the ball on the Riders’ one-yard line, and they made no mistake by turning to short-yardage quarterback Jarret Doege, who plunged in for the score. Jake Herslow caught the two-point conversion to make it a three-point game going into the fourth.
Looking to regain momentum in the fourth, the Riders leaned on the run game. Ouellette had five carries for 26 yards on the drive, Thomas Bertrand-Hudon mixed in a good run, and Stevens polished off the grind with a two-yard shove into the end zone. Lauther did his part on the extra point to make it 31-21.
After Hajrullahu added another field goal in the fourth, to which Lauther’s response sailed wide left and out of the end zone for a point, the Argos dialled in for a final attempt down eight. With two minutes left on the clock, Arbuckle locked in for a nine-play drive that concluded with a touchdown pass to Mital, who desperately stretched across the line for the score. Arbuckle went deep in the end zone to Brissett for the two-point conversion to knot it up with 23 seconds remaining.
The momentary elation turned to shock and heartbreak for the Argos as Alford ran the ensuing kickoff 99 yards to the house nearly untouched. To add insult to game-ending injury, Toronto only had 11 players lined up on the kick team.
The Riders head home for Week 4, where they will host the BC Lions on June 28, while the Argos will take on the Ottawa REDBLACKS at TD Place on June 29.