‘Our advantage is the fans’: Roughriders hopeful home field is an advantage, hosting first West Final since 2019

Saskatchewan hosts just its fourth Western Final. The Riders lost the last home final heartbreakingly, with few players returning. Donovan Maes reports.

The Saskatchewan Roughriders are hoping having home field for this weekend’s Western Division Final is an advantage.

Hosting the division final is a rare occurrence in Riderville, having happened just three previous times in 1976, 2009 and 2019.

“Having our crowd behind us, you know [fans] are going to come out and show up,” receiver KeeSean Johnson told reporters Wednesday. “That’s the goal.”

“I expect chaos,” linebacker A.J. Allen said. “Unorganized chaos, like Gotham City. I can’t wait for it.”

In addition to the loud crowd, the elements may also play a factor.

Saturday’s forecast shows a high of -6 C, and a low of -17 C.

When asked what the bigger challenge is, the fans or the cold, BC Lions head coach Buck Pierce said dealing with the weather is all mental.

“Weather has always been a mindset,” he told TSN. “Both teams have to play in it. We have had the nice weather here, but we’re looking forward to it.”

“We’ve come a long way this year. It’s an opportunity for us to go out there and play in front of a great crowd,” Pierce added.

Lions’ quarterback Nathan Rourke has played in one previous West Final, in 2022 against the Blue Bombers in Winnipeg.

He threw for 300 yards and a touchdown in the game, but the Winnipeg defence forced an 0-5 start from him and held Rourke to a 54 per cent completion rate, while forcing two interceptions.

• Download the CTV News app to get breaking news alerts sent to your device

“[The crowd and weather] are both difficult,” Rourke said. “It’s hard to choose one. The combination is what makes it [football] so challenging. Right?”

“And that’s why we want to be able to do as much as we can to make [the division] go through us. It will be difficult,” he added.

Riders’ head coach Corey Mace believes his team’s advantage is the fans.

“This facility is unbelievable,” he said after practice Thursday. “To be able to put a bunch of butts in seats and be loud and be active, it’s a plus one. It’s potentially a cold weather game, but you catch them on Labour Day or any other home game.”

“It’s always the crowd,” Mace added.

As of Thursday afternoon, the Riders are yet to announce if Saturday’s game is sold out. However, more than 30,000 tickets have been distributed, the team said.

Allen says playing in front of the home crowd in the division final is what the team has worked for all season.

“It’s huge,” he said. “People got [to] play in the elements and play in front [of] the best fans in the CFL.”

“Not only face us 12 [on the field] but they face the 13th man, too,” Allen added.

A look back at 2019

Saskatchewan has not hosted the West Final since 2019, a game the Roughriders lost to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

On the final play of the game, then-quarterback Cody Fajardo attempted a potential game-tying pass, which hit the crossbar of the goal post and fell incomplete.

Only a handful of players from six years ago remain on the team today, including Micah Johnson.

“That was crazy,” he told CTV News. “Not a lot of good memories [of that game]. It’s one of those ones that sticks with you.”

Johnson believes that 2019 had the pieces in place to win a Grey Cup that year.

“You think about the championships [you’ve] won, but a lot of times you’re thinking about the ones you should have won,” he said. “We were in a real good place, and we didn’t get it done.”

“It’s just one of those things that’s a constant reminder, nothing’s promised out here,” Johnson added.

Also playing in that game was current Rider Jamarcus Hardrick, who was on the Winnipeg sideline.

“Was that the goal post game?” he questioned. “I’ll never forget that one.”

“It was very cold. [Our] silent call was horrible. The fans gave [the Riders] all they needed and it came down to the wire,” Hardrick remembered.

The offensive lineman says he’s happy to be playing on the good side of Rider fans this go around.

“Our advantage is the fans is the way they love on us,” he said. “It’s very important that we get that here.”

All-time at home in West Division Finals, the Riders are 2-1, winning in 1976 and 2009.

Since the 2019 loss, Saskatchewan has won back-to-back home playoff games in the West Semi-Finals in 2021 and 2024.

Kickoff Saturday for the 2025 West Division Final is 5:30 p.m. at Mosaic Stadium.