Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - July 27, 2015, Winnipeg, Manitoba C M Y K PAGE C2 C 2 WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, MONDAY, JULY 27, 2015 FOOTBALL winnipegfreepress. com Any Child. Any Need. Every Day. Call ( 204) 982- 1050 O R V I S I T varietymanitoba. com DONATE T O D A Y With your donation you give a child... a childhood . Your Satisfaction Guaranteed 204- 793- 4105 don. tomac@ coldwellbanker. ca Don Tomac 204.956. 7709 / SHEPSHAIR. COM VANCOUVER - Two interceptions and an early 21- 0 deficit didn't shake Scott Milanovich's belief in his quarterback. And Trevor Harris repaid his head coach's faith with another stunning road victory. Ronnie Pfeffer nailed his third field goal of the night with 46 seconds left in the fourth quarter as the Toronto Argonauts stormed back from an early hole to down the B. C. Lions 30- 27 Friday night. The rookie kicker's 29- yard attempt capped an impressive rally led by Harris, who threw two touchdown passes to go along with those two interceptions for the Argonauts ( 3- 1). "( Milanovich) came up to me after the picks and said ' Hey it's a long game, brother. I believe in you and we're going to get this,' " said Harris, who finished 30- of- 40 passing for 340 yards to go along with a rushing TD. " It was awesome to hear that. You've got to keep grinding." Starting in place of injured No. 1 pivot Ricky Ray, Harris has led the Argonauts to three wins in Western Canada to start the season while Rogers Centre was occupied by the Pan Am Games. " It's another growing game for him," said Milanovich. " You have to be able to work through that. To be able to be a great quarterback you've got to be able to bounce back and have no memory." Toronto plays its first game in Ontario next week with a visit to Hamilton to take on the Tiger- Cats before hosting the Saskatchewan Roughriders on Aug. 8. " I was a little concerned this week ( playing on the road) was wearing us down," said Milanovich. " We didn't talk about it a whole lot, but I could tell that the guys were getting worn down... kudos to our guys for hanging in there." Andrew Harris ran in two scores and added another through the air in the game's first 15 minutes and 40 seconds as the Lions ( 2- 2) wasted that early lead. Travis Lulay finished 18- of- 32, passing for 165 yards with one touchdown and one interception in what was his worst performance of the young season. " We let that one get away from us," said Andrew Harris, who accounted for 129 yards of offence. " It just seemed like we stopped making plays." With the score tied 21- 21, Richie Leone nailed a 39- yard field goal with just over six minutes remaining for the home side's first points since early in the second quarter. But Trevor Harris drove his team back the other way and hooked up with Natey Adjei with 3: 31 to play to give the Argonauts their first lead at 27- 24 after Pfeffer failed to connect on a 32- yard convert attempt. Shaq Murray- Lawrence returned the ensuing kickoff to Toronto's 35- yard line, but B. C. could only attempt another field goal, which Leone nailed from 42 yards to tie the score with 2: 22 on the clock before Pfeffer booted the winning points. " Our guys are very confident," said Milanovich. " They're new to the CFL, but they think they're good and when you believe that you'll never quit. In the CFL games are never over." Down 21- 7 at the half, the Argonauts cut the Lions' lead to 11 on Pfeffer's 33- yard field goal early in the third. B. C. turned the ball over on downs in Toronto territory later in the quarter and Trevor Harris drove his team down the field before scoring on a two- yard plunge, that with a two- point convert pass to Kevin Elliott made it 21- 18. Pfeffer then nailed a 44- yard field goal early in the fourth to tie the game. The Lions were coming off backto- back wins over Saskatchewan and jumped out to a big lead largely on the back of Andrew Harris. After an interception by Cord Parks, Harris touched the ball five times on a nine- play, 73- yard scoring drive that culminated with his 10- yard TD run. Trevor Harris was then picked off for a second consecutive drive to start Toronto's next possession to give the Lions the ball at midfield, with Lulay eventually hooking up with Andrew Harris on a 25- yard TD. The running back then made a nice spin move on B. C.' s next drive to score from seven yards out for his third TD to make the score 21- 0 after Leone's third extra point of the night. Trevor Harris finally responded with 54- yard touchdown pass to Elliott with about 10 minutes left in the second quarter to cut the deficit to 21- 7 and give the Argonauts life. " I made a couple bonehead throws, and that comes with playing the position," said Harris. " I almost lost the game for my team. We were a resilient group today and we came back. We battled and I'm just proud of the guys." - The Canadian Press By Joshua Clipperton Argos QB Harris rewards coach's unwavering faith DARRYL DYCK / THE CANADIAN PRESS The B. C. Lions' Andrew Harris pushes forward with the ball as Toronto Argonauts defenders try to bring him down Friday. R EGINA - The injuries and the losses continue to mount for the Saskatchewan Roughriders. The Hamilton Tiger- Cats erased a fourth- quarter deficit and pulled off another win on the road - a 31- 21 triumph Sunday at Mosaic Stadium - to keep the Riders winless to start the 2015 CFL season. The Riders dropped to 0- 5 with the loss, their fourth straight on home field, and when they look ahead to Week 6 they may very well be without quarterback Kevin Glenn, who replaced starter Darian Durant after a season- ending injury in Week 1. " The only thing we can do is continue to work hard," said Riders receiver Rob Bagg. " We want to win more than anybody who is critiquing and looking in from the outside. We're not trying to lose intentionally. " We have put in a lot of time and effort and it's frustrating to not get the results you want. You can either quit or you can keep working." An 0- 4 start to the season looked to be behind the Riders as they held a lead to open the fourth quarter. That's when their fortunes took another turn for the worse. Jeff Mathews' one- yard touchdown plunge put the Tiger- Cats ahead for good, and when the Riders looked to their offence to give them a comefrom- behind victory, they saw their starting quarterback nursing an injury. With rookie quarterback Brett Smith filling in for Glenn, Saskatchewan couldn't create any momentum, let alone a comeback to snap their losing skid. Kicker Justin Medlock booted his fifth field goal of the game to give the Tiger- Cats an insurance score late and help the team improve to 2- 2. " We brought Kevin in here because we knew that if anything happened to Darian ( Durant) we would have a true starting quarterback, a winning starting quarterback and Grey Cup starting quarterback," head coach Corey Chamblin explained. " So to have that happen is always a blow, especially when you have a chance to win a game." The Riders broke a 14- 14 halftime tie when Smith, the Riders' quarterback in short- yardage situations, scored on a one- yard run on the team's opening possession of the second half. But it was all Hamilton from there. Medlock kicked a pair of field goals to bring the visitors to within a point before Mathews scored to put his team ahead for good. " Any time you can get a win, especially on the road, it's a great feeling," said Hamilton quarterback Zach Collaros, who completed 19- of- 28 passes for 284 yards and one touchdown. " Saskatchewan is a good football team, but we did just enough today to get a win." It appeared Glenn injured himself late in the third quarter after he was intercepted by Rico Murray. Glenn was in on the tackle of Murray and was spotted on the sideline grimacing when he tried to move his right shoulder. " I don't think it's snake bit," Smith said. " Football is a rough sport. Quarterback's bodies aren't really meant to tackle guys sometimes. Kevin is a hard worker and he's a great teammate. He's going to do what he can to prevent a touchdown and help the team." The Riders opened the scoring in the first quarter when Paul McCallum kicked a 29- yard field goal on the team's first possession. Hamilton then outscored the Riders 14- 3 until Glenn found Bagg for a 20- yard touchdown reception with 13 seconds to go in the first half. Bagg snagged the two- point convert to tie the score at 14- 14. Hamilton running back C. J. Gable rushed for a game- high 135 yards on 20 carries. Jasper Collins Jr. had 73 receiving yards and one touchdown. " That's a good defence and a good team over there. ( Saskatchewan's) record doesn't compare to how good they really are," Gable said. " We kept fighting and we kept pushing. We were going to run it until they found a way to stop us." The Tiger- Cats are scheduled to play their first home game of the season Aug. 3 when they host the Toronto Argonauts. The Riders will travel to face the Edmonton Eskimos on Friday. - The Canadian Press Ticats keep Riders reeling Fourth- quarter TD from backup QB has Saskatchewan 0- 5 TIGER- CATS 31 ROUGHRIDERS 21 MARK TAYLOR / THE CANADIAN PRESS Hamilton Tiger- Cats quarterback Zach Collaros bolts out of the pocket against the Saskatchewan Roughriders Sunday in Regina. C_ 02_ Jul- 27- 15_ FP_ 01. indd C2 7/ 26/ 15 10: 47: 56 PM ;