FAST FACT: Shawn Bane Jr. has scored each of his past five touchdowns against the Edmonton Elks.
“That is actually insane,” the 29-year-old Saskatchewan Roughriders receiver said leading up to Saturday’s home game against Edmonton (5 p.m., TSN, CKRM).
“I guess I just know how to find the connection against Edmonton.”
That was obvious on Sept. 15, when Bane Jr. caught two touchdown passes against the visiting Elks.
Then came June 8, when he collaborated with Trevor Harris for three scoring strikes in a 29-21 victory over Edmonton at Commonwealth Stadium.
“Maybe we can do another hat trick,” Bane Jr. said with a laugh. “That would be great.
“Hopefully we can get a receiving touchdown. It has been a minute since we had one of those.
“We’ve just got to get on the same page and understand each other and just read the defences. I think we can do that this week.”
On opening day, Bane Jr. tied a Roughriders single-game record for TD catches. Dating back to 1958, there have been 19 other games in which a Roughrider has caught three TD passes.
“It was crazy, because I didn’t even feel the best,” Bane Jr. recalled. “My body was cramping. You’ve got to be prepared when you ask for the blessing.
“Shout-out to Trevor for finding me on those three. Thank God it was a win as well. The third one was to seal the game.”
Bane Jr. finished that contest with five catches for 125 yards.
A Roughriders receiver has exceeded 100 yards four times since then — with a different player reaching that milestone on each occasion.
Samuel Emilus, Jerreth Sterns, Ajou Ajou and Kian Schaffer-Baker have also reached triple digits for the 5-2 Roughriders.
“We’ve got a bunch of playmakers,” Bane Jr. said. “We’ve probably got guys who can have a 200-yard game.
“Our core is the core. We think we’re the best in the league and we try to show that week in and week out.”
This is the sixth season in which five or more different players in a row have registered 100-plus receiving yards in a game for Saskatchewan.
The 1992 sequence included six players — Don Narcisse (10 catches for 192 yards, Oct. 4 vs. Toronto Argonauts), Milson Jones (3-114, Oct. 4), Jeff Fairholm (4-108, Oct. 11 vs. Hamilton Tiger-Cats), B.K. Williams (5-109, Oct. 18 at Calgary Stampeders), Mike Saunders (8-214, Oct. 25 vs. B.C. Lions) and Ray Elgaard (7-113, Nov. 1 at Edmonton).
There are five examples of a five-player 100-yard rotation:
1998: Dan Farthing (9-101, July 24 vs. B.C.), Don Narcisse (11-146, July 30 at Hamilton), Curtis Mayfield (7-139, Aug. 7 vs. Calgary), Larry Thompson (5-121, Aug. 27 at Edmonton) and Saunders (5-117, Sept. 6 vs. Winnipeg Blue Bombers).
2004: Elijah Thurmon (6-135, July 31 vs. Hamilton), Jason French (6-129, July 31), Travis Moore (7-117, Aug. 5 at Montreal Alouettes), Karsten Bailey (4-109, Oct. 9 at Ottawa Renegades) and Matt Dominguez (7-118, Oct. 30 at B.C.).
2013: Weston Dressler (10-108, July 5 vs. Calgary), Taj Smith (3-141, July 11 at Toronto), Rob Bagg (5-125, July 21 vs. Hamilton), Geroy Simon (5-125, July 27 at Hamilton) and Chris Getzlaf (7-112, Sept. 1 vs. Winnipeg).
2023: Bane Jr. (10-144, July 29 vs. Toronto at Halifax), Tevin Jones (9-133, July 29), Emilus (5-106, Aug. 20 vs. B.C.), Schaffer-Baker (9-104, Sept. 29 at B.C.) and Sterns (7-102, Sept. 29 at B.C.).
2024: Bane Jr. (5-125, June 8 at Edmonton), Sterns (6-112, June 16 at Hamilton), Schaffer-Baker (7-109, June 16), Emilus (8-161, July 13 at B.C.) and Ajou (4-110, July 19 vs. Winnipeg).
ON YOUR MARKS …
The Roughriders are preparing to face an Edmonton offence that includes the league’s fastest quarterback (Tre Ford) and a speedster at tailback (Javon Leake, who scored four punt-return touchdowns for the Argonauts last season).
“It’s a football game slash track meet,” Roughriders Head Coach and Defensive Co-ordinator Corey Mace said.
“They’re extremely fast in the backfield. We’ve got to be dialed and it is going to take all 12 (to defend) Tre scrambling to any kind of outside perimeter running back. There are dual running threats with both of them back there.
“We’ve got to be on our game to make sure we’re accounting for both of those guys.”
Ford, Leake and associates are preparing to face a Saskatchewan side that has allowed only 47.9 rushing yards per game — by far the lowest average in the league.
“We say, ‘Tackle by population,’ ” Mace said. “Don’t ever expect it to just be one person. It really comes down to everything we preach with accountability.
“With the run game, it’s gap integrity and then swarm the football. It’s got to be Sprint To Ball — STB.
“Only good things happen when everybody is around the football. The guys take heed of that. I think that’s part of our defensive DNA.”
COMPLACENCY-FREE ZONE
The Roughriders (5-2) aren’t taking anything for granted as they prepare to encounter the winless Elks (0-7).
“We respect our opponents so much,” Mace said. “It’s hard to win in this league.
“Say what you want, but they’ve been in a lot of close games. They’ve got a really, really talented roster. They’ve got great athletes. They’ve got proven guys who have been playmakers in this league for a long time. They’ve got veterans in the coaching positions.
“We don’t talk about cakewalks. There’s no such thing in professional sports, so we’ve got to be dialed or we’re going to find ourselves in a situation.”
SHEA’S STADIUM
Shea Patterson is undefeated at home (2-0) as the Roughriders’ starting quarterback.
In his first CFL start, he helped Saskatchewan defeat the visiting Argonauts 30-23 on July 4.
He was also behind centre 15 days later when the Roughriders downed Winnipeg 19-9 at Mosaic Stadium.
Opening-day starter Trevor Harris suffered a knee injury near halftime in the Roughriders’ first home game — a 36-20 victory over the visiting Tiger-Cats on June 24.
“As a group, we put an emphasis on protecting this house,” Patterson said. “It’s very special to us. It’s special to the fans and to everybody in Regina.
“If anybody comes into your home, you’ve got to protect it and fight for your family. That’s kind of our mindset whenever we play at home.”
A victory on Saturday would give the Roughriders a 4-0 home record for the first time since their championship season of 2013.
AUG. 3 ODDITIES
The Roughriders are poised to play at home on Aug. 3 for the first time since 1969, when the Lions lost a 22-20 nailbiter at Taylor Field.
With 1:35 left in the fourth quarter, Ron Lancaster threw an 11-yard touchdown pass to Silas McKinnie to create a 20-20 tie. Jack Abendschan proceeded to kick a go-ahead convert. Alan Ford punted for a 39-yard single with 35 seconds remaining.
McKinnie scored two plays after Ken Reed recovered a fumble by Lions quarterback Paul Brothers and returned the football nine yards to the visitors’ 11.
Saskatchewan’s next five Aug. 3 games were on the road — in Montreal (1971), Ottawa (1976), Calgary (1985), Montreal (2000) and Winnipeg (2001).
The Roughriders’ only other Aug. 3 regular-season game was in 1964, when a 92-yard TD run by Ed Buchanan helped Saskatchewan win 15-4 in Calgary.
How much have things changed? The Roughriders’ final pre-season game of 1956 was played on Aug. 3. Today’s regular-season game is the Roughriders’ eighth in 2024.
