In Kent Austin's return to Mosaic Stadium, the Saskatchewan Roughriders wiped the floor with his new team, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, in their fourth consecutive win on the season.
In the 37-0 blowout, the Roughriders outperformed the Tiger-Cats, who are now 1-3, in every aspect possible.
Austin, who left Saskatchewan after leading them to the 2007 Grey Cup to coach American college ball, was cheered and booed when he walked onto the field, but mostly cheered. The Tigers-Cats head coach wasn't concerned with how Rider nation welcomed him after the game, though. He was focusing on what his club has to do to get back into the win column.
"We've got to look at our lineup," he said. "Like I told the coaches, it's going to start with us. We've got to figure out what our guys can do well and only ask them to do that because there's some things we just aren't good enough to do."
At the other end of the spectrum, the victory was especially sweet to Roughriders linebacker Rey Williams, who was cut by Hamilton in February after two seasons with the club.
"Any time you play your old team and you don't leave on the best of terms you want to go there and you want to embarrass them, and we were able to do that tonight," said Williams, who snagged two sacks against the Tiger-Cats.
After a scoreless first quarter, three Chris Milo field goals and a Darian Durant to Rob Bagg 29-year reception gave the Riders a commanding 16-0 lead heading into the half.
In the last play of the third quarter, Durant connected with tight-end Dan Clark in the end zone for a seven-yard pass. Clark, who is known for his block ability not his catching skills, was overwhelmed with enjoyment when he caught his first touchdown pass.
"It's an unbelievable experience," said Clark. "I never thought in 10 years of football that I'd be catching the ball in the end zone in the CFL."
Riders head coach Corey Chamblin went into the game thinking the Clark pass was a possible ace up his sleeve with the play working in practice.
"As long as the fans don't tweet the plays, they always work," said Chamblin. "We did (the Dan Clark touchdown pass) in practice, and it worked. It was a good thing. The play worked but also it got George Cortez excited. That's the most excited I've ever seen him. He was probably more excited there than any touchdown Allen Pitts ever caught."
Saskatchewan continued to pour on the points in the final frame. Bagg caught a 60-yard touchdown pass from Durant early on in the quarter. Durant later on connected with Weston Dressler for a 28-yard reception with only six minutes left in the contest.
It seemed the Riders could have added to their lead late in the fourth quarter, but Drew Willy, who came in late in the game for Durant, took a knee in the Tiger-Cats' zone.
"When we knelt down late, the game was already won," said Chamblin. "We didn't need to add any more points because it's not a season-series deal in our own division. We didn't need to put any more up."
Geroy Simon quietly contributed in his first game in a Rider jersey, catching two passes for 38 yards.
"I always said Geroy will make that one play when he needs to and today he made a sure-handed catch on that big play," said Chamblin on Simon's 32-yard reception.
Despite the leg injury suffered last week, Durant was solid from start to finish. He completed 20 of 32 passes for 347 yards and four touchdowns.
Tiger-Cats quarterback Henri Burris, meanwhile, completed 16 of 27 passes for 158 yards and one interception.
Riders running-back Kory Sheets rushed for over 100 yards in his fourth consecutive game. He racked up 130 yards on 24 carries.
The Riders have a rematch with the Tiger-Cats next Saturday in Hamilton.
