Courtesy Regina Leader Post:

Tailback Wes Cates told reporters Sunday he would be playing in the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ next game.

His head coach wasn’t as optimistic.

“We’re not sure,” Kent Austin said following Saskatchewan’s 26-24 victory in the West semifinal. “Whenever I predict something like that, I’m usually wrong.”

The Roughriders visit the B.C. Lions on Sunday for the West final. The game will be played inside B.C. Place Stadium, a noisy, hot dome. Cates missed the team’s final three regular-season games and the playoff victory, ostensibly with a sprained foot. Or perhaps a hairline fracture.

Cates was Saskatchewan’s leading rusher this season, gaining 866 yards (and five touchdowns) on 152 carries. He led the Roughriders with 1,318 yards from scrimmage and 1,372 all-purpose yards. He’s also a formidable blocker and enjoys playing on special teams, where he made three tackles.

Fullback Chris Szarka remains doubtful while recovering from an off-field accident that caused two sliced fingers.

Tailback Corey Holmes missed one game with a tender shoulder, plus he was sidelined for a portion of Sunday’s game after aggravating the injury.

Josh Ranek, a former 1,000-yard rusher with the Ottawa Renegades, was summoned to provide depth. Playing his second game with the Roughriders on Sunday, Ranek was knocked woozy and suffered a suspected concussion, which forced him to miss the game’s final stages.

The Roughriders still have Henri Childs on their practice roster, but Childs hasn’t yet shown the big-play potential or break-through running that was expected of him. And Shermar Bracey, a powerful tailback released earlier this season, apparently hasn’t kept himself in game shape. Cates might have to play.

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A team of destiny? The Roughriders have had their last two victories assured by last-second penalties called against their opponents. A questionable holding penalty against Eskimos fullback Mike Maurer negated a 47-yard, game-winning field goal by Edmonton’s Sean Fleming on the last play of regulation time. Saskatchewan won 36-29 in overtime, which at the time improved its record to 12-5-0. The Roughriders subsequently lost their regular-season finale, 41-13 to the Toronto Argonauts, in a contest that evidently didn’t sidetrack them. And in Sunday’s West semifinal, after Calgary quarterback Henry Burris threw a touchdown pass to Ken-Yon Rambo that sliced Saskatchewan’s lead to 26-24, the Stampeders recovered their own short kickoff with mere seconds remaining. But Calgary’s Sadrick Williams was penalized for being offside — on the other side of the field! Saskatchewan recovered the next kickoff and held on to its two-point victory … Saskatchewan forced four turnovers and committed only one on Sunday. In the 10 games this season in which the Roughriders have won the turnover battle, they have also won the game … Saskatchewan attracted 310,083 fans for its 11 home games this season (one preseason, 10 regular season and one postseason). That’s an average crowd of 28,189 inside 28,800-seat Mosaic Stadium, a 97.8-per-cent capacity average … Linebacker Anton McKenzie has spent the past two seasons with the Roughriders. He has noticed the attention given by the players whenever Austin speaks, with good reason. They know Austin was Saskatchewan’s quarterback in 1989, when he was named the outstanding player in the Roughriders’ 43-40 victory over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. “When we’re sitting there and he’s saying something, you know he means it because he’s been through it,” said McKenzie. “He won a Grey Cup here. He actually won the last one here. He knows what it takes to get there. So we’re going to listen to him because, hey, he’s done it. So what he’s telling us must be right. And we can do it.”