Redblacks hold off Roughriders in Ottawa

The Ottawa Redblacks handed the Saskatchewan Roughriders their second straight loss to start the 2019 CFL regular season Thursday.

Dominique Davis completed 30 of 39 pass attempts for 354 yards and three touchdowns as the Redblacks downed the Roughriders 44-41 at TD Place in Ottawa.

Cody Fajardo, who was making his first career start at quarterback in the CFL, was 27-for-34 passing for 360 yards and two TDs for Saskatchewan.

Fajardo was starting in place of Zach Collaros, who was put on the six-game injured list after taking a hit to the head in the Roughriders’ opener, a 23-17 loss to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on June 13.

Kyran Moore (117 yards on five receptions) and Shaq Evans (103 yards on seven catches) each had 100-yard receiving games for the Roughriders, but it wasn’t enough. Dominique Rhymes had 11 catches for 168 yards and a touchdown for Ottawa (2-0-0).

The Redblacks got their other touchdown catches from R.J. Harris and J.C. Beaulieu. Lewis Ward went 6-for-6 on field-goal tries, Richie Leone added two singles and the Redblacks scored three two-point converts.

Saskatchewan got touchdown receptions from Evans (his first regular-season score in the CFL) and Marcus Thigpen and TD runs from Fajardo, Thigpen and William Powell.

Brett Lauther kicked a pair of field goals and three converts for the Roughriders, who also recorded a two-point convert.

Saskatchewan had 468 yards of net offence to Ottawa’s 447, but that didn’t matter to Fajardo.

“I’m not a big stats guy,” he said. “Obviously the biggest stat for any quarterback is wins and losses. We just have to get on the game film and figure out what we can get better at.

“We had more turnovers than them (Saskatchewan lost two fumbles; Ottawa didn’t have any giveaways) and usually that’s what this game is about, turnovers. I think both teams played well and they played well enough to win. We played well enough to win but we had a couple of bad breaks.”

The Roughriders return to action July 1, when they open the home portion of their schedule against the Toronto Argonauts.

— With files from The Canadian Press