A day of hope turned into a day of despair for the Saskatchewan Roughriders on Saturday.

The day began with the Riders having an outside chance of finishing first in the CFL West Division, but a 28-27 win by the Winnipeg Blue Bombers over the Montreal Alouettes ended that hope.

Then the Riders took the field against the Calgary Stampeders in their regular season finale and put up a lackluster effort that ended in a 27-12 loss.

Winnipeg’s victory, thanks to a 51-yard field goal by Sergio Castillo on the last play of the game, snatched the Riders’ chance of finishing first. The mental letdown that followed played a major role in the loss to the last-place Stampeders.

“We obviously didn’t play the way we wanted today. I don’t want to bank on disappointment as the reason, but you never really know. We were ready to play hard regardless, but I think it gave to the guys a little bit of disappointment, but I think it probably wasn’t an excuse at all, to be honest,” Saskatchewan linebacker CJ Reavis said.

“We shouldn’t wait for someone else to do the job for us again. We should have hit our business, so we really don’t deserve this place, to be honest. We should have won earlier in the season for this place.

Riders head coach Corey Mace believed his players could handle the disappointment of Winnipeg’s win, but he acknowledged the disappointment.

“It really was and I wish it wasn’t the case. At halftime we talked about it a little bit, and even before the game the goal was always the goal, you have to make 1 -0. There were some guys that got a chance to play that maybe didn’t play a lot of time,” Mace said.

“Everyone was excited about it, and these guys are part of this team and helping us win. I just didn’t feel like we had the juice tonight and it showed.”

Saskatchewan started the season with a 4-0 record before going on a nine-game winless streak with a record of 0-8-1. Mace agreed that if the Riders could have won a game or two during that stretch, which included back-to-back losses to the Bombers, they probably wouldn’t have found themselves in the position they were in Saturday.

“Absolutely. I mean, that’s part of it, but I live in reality, and somehow we’re exactly where we’re supposed to be. Of course you’d like to win one or two, and that It changes the outcome, but our steps are orderly the way they are, and I think that’s for good reason It looks negative tonight because we really wanted to win this game. We have work to do. to do tomorrow, so let’s go,” said. Mass.

The Riders, who entered the game on a four-game winning streak, finished the season with a 9-8-1 record and will host the BC Lions in the Western semi-final on November 2. the Bombers in Winnipeg on November 9 during the Western final.

The Stampeders, who finished last in the West with a 5-12-1 record, picked up their first road win of the season. It’s been a tough season for the Stampeders and Calgary head coach and general manager Dave Dickenson liked the way his team responded in Saturday’s game.

“I think we have good character on our team. I believe we have a good culture; I do. I believe the guys work hard and they want to win. We just didn’t care enough about the details at this point, we lost our confidence so yeah, (our team) will change, definitely, but at least you finished on the right note,” Dickenson said.

“Last week we played against Hamilton. It was hard to swallow. I can’t look at a single person or someone who really played or played the way he wanted, and today you can see a lot better. And certainly, the guys responded.”

With Winnipeg’s win, the Riders made several roster changes, removing defensive back Rolan Milligan, running back AJ Ouellette, and receivers KeeSean Johnson and Samuel Emilus from the lineup. They also chose to start Shea Patterson at quarterback in place of veteran center Trevor Harris.

Patterson played most of the first half and struggled, completing just six of 13 passes for 62 yards. The Riders were held to 104 total offensive yards in the first half. Rookie Jack Coan replaced Patterson for the final possession of the first half and played the rest of the game for the Riders.

Calgary quarterback Jake Maier got off to a slow start, completing just one of his first seven passes. He got into rhythm late in the first quarter, connecting with Clark Barnes on passes of 40 and 33 yards, respectively. Barnes’ second reception resulted in a touchdown to give the Stampeders a 7-3 lead.

The Stampeders increased their lead to 14-3 midway through the third quarter when Maier hit Cam Echols on a nine-yard touchdown run.

On the first play of the fourth quarter, Marken Michel hauled in a 67-yard touchdown pass from Maier, making the score 24-6.

In the fourth quarter, Coan threw his first CFL touchdown by hitting Jerreth Sterns on a 19-yard scoring pass. A failed two-point conversion left the score at 24-12.

Maier completed 19 of 26 passes for 293 yards and three touchdowns. Dedrick Mills totaled 128 rushing yards on 20 carries for the Stampeders.

René Paredes made two field goals for the Stampeders while Brett Lauther made two field goals for the Riders.

Demerio Houston, Julian Howsare and Justin Sambu each had a sack for Calgary. Jayden Dalke and Benoit Marion had sacks for Saskatchewan.