Charleston Hughes continues to dominate in 12th CFL season

Saskatchewan Roughriders defensive end Charleston Hughes continues to be one of the most dominant forces in the CFL.

The 35-year-old is now in his 12th CFL season and is coming off one of his most impressive games.

The B.C. Lions had little to no answer for the talented player in their Saturday meeting, which Saskatchewan won 38-25.

Hughes finished the game with three sacks, two forced fumbles and 10 tackles in the win. The two teams will meet in a rematch on Saturday in B.C.

The Riders veteran said he barely remembers making all those plays, saying he was in the zone and blacked out.

“There’s comes a time where you just step into the zone and everything’s going right,” Hughes said after practice Tuesday at Mosaic Stadium. “When (Los Angeles Lakers shooting guard) Kobe (Bryant) dropped 81 (points), you think he remembers all 81? You just black out and everything you shoot just goes in the hole.

“I was just playing football. I try to be the best I can be on that given day and every day moving forward.”

His play in the win earned him a CFL top performer award for Week 6. Roughriders wide receiver Shaq Evans also received the honour after catching five passes for 158 yards and a touchdown.

So far this season, 18 players have been named top performers with Hughes becoming the second defensive player to win one of the awards in 2019.

“It is what it is,” Hughes said when asked if defensive players don’t get the recognition they deserve when it comes to the weekly award. “I’m just striding to lead the league in sacks, win another Grey Cup and just perform.”

Hughes is well on his way to accomplishing one of those goals. After six weeks, Hughes has a league-leading eight sacks. He led the league in 2018 with 15.

Even Roughriders defensive lineman Micah Johnson was blown away by the game Hughes had against B.C.

Johnson and Hughes were teammates with the Calgary Stampeders for five seasons before Hughes was traded to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Feb. 2, 2018. A few hours later, Hamilton traded him to the Green and White.

“That was one of the best games I’ve seen him play,” Johnson said. “Not just necessarily the sacks, you know what he can do with the sacks. (It was) just how active he was in the run game, how physical he was in the run game. That was a total all-around ball games (he played). You can’t play any better at defensive end.”

While Johnson is happy to see his teammate do well, his wallet might not be. The duo made a bet before the season started about how who finish with more sacks on the year with the winner getting $1,000. Johnson still sits at zero in 2019 and was willing to concede following the B.C. game.

“I asked him after the game if he wanted (the money) now,” Johnson said. “I told him I was going to give it to him in all toonies.

“He’s balling and there’s no way around that. It is just good to see a guy, as I’m getting older, a guy at his age still balling at a high level makes me think I can keep doing this for a few more years.”

Hughes praised the way Johnson has been playing, noting Johnson draws a lot of double-teams on the inside of the line.

“I try to tell him to not get as frustrated as he usually gets sometimes,” Hughes said. “(I tell him to) try to keep his head in the game because when you’re drawing that much attention on the inside, I just tell him to keep rushing because his time’s going to come. They are going to have to come for me.”

Hughes said Johnson’s opportunity could come as early as Saturday.

“You can expect (B.C. Lions head coach DeVone Claybrooks) is going to have something for me,” Hughes said.

Kickoff for Saturday’s game is set for 5 p.m.

The Green Zone pre-game show will begin at 3 p.m.