Courtesy Regina Leader Post:

Stoked by a disruptive, victory-starved, sold-out crowd of 28,800 at Mosaic Stadium, the Saskatchewan Roughriders won their first CFL home playoff game in 31 years Sunday.
“I thought this was going to be kind of like Labour Day,” defensive tackle Scott Schultz said after the Roughriders beat the Calgary Stampeders 26-24 in the West semifinal. “That crowd right there kicked Labour Day’s ass. They said, ‘Bleep, Labour Day, this is a playoff crowd!’ It was absolutely amazing. It was tremendous.
“But I’m not going out with them, I’m keeping it nice and close to home.”

The victory qualified the Roughriders for the West final, slated for Sunday in Vancouver against the reigning, Grey Cup-champion B.C. Lions.
B.C. finished the season atop the West with a 14-3-1 record, including two victories in three meetings with second-place Saskatchewan (12-6-0). The winner advances to the Grey Cup on Nov. 25 in Toronto.
Although the team has been re-jiggered under general manager Eric Tillman and first-year head coach Kent Austin, this will be the fourth time in the past five years the Roughriders have advanced to the West final. Saskatchewan hasn’t appeared in the Grey Cup game since 1997 and hasn’t won since 1989.
“What is it, our fourth or fifth time in the West final?” said Riders tackle Gene Makowsky. “Our record hasn’t been very good in them.
“We’ll be playing the best team in the league, which had a week of rest and will have a loud stadium. It’s going to be an extremely tough test. If we manage a win we’ll definitely deserve going to the Grey Cup.”
The Roughriders hadn’t won a home playoff game since 1976. Since then they had played host to only one CFL postseason contest - a divisional semifinal loss in 1988. After ending both droughts, players stayed on the field amid swirling confetti to applaud the fans, who were donned in Riders green and cheering, dancing, kissing and hugging.
“I think the crowd was a factor on a few of their offsides,” said Austin, referring to Calgary’s seven offside/procedure penalties. “At least, I like to think they were. It’s the way football should be. The atmosphere here is the way football should be. The fans were outstanding, it was a great environment for both teams.”
The Roughriders scored on the opening drive when quarterback Kerry Joseph threw a 62-yard touchdown pass to D.J. Flick, who slipped behind coverage from Sadrick Williams.
The Roughriders dominated time of possession (34 minutes two seconds to 25:58) and total yardage (536-356) while deploying a ball-control offence that relied on mid-range passes to Flick (four catches for 108 yards), Andy Fantuz (6-127) and Corey Holmes (8-83) and Joseph’s running (14 carries for 108 yards).
“They ball controlled really well,” said Stampeders head coach Tom Higgins, whose future is cloudy amid media reports that he is about to be replaced by John Hufnagel. “They have a couple of really nice receivers who are going to be very good football players for years to come.”
After conducting his postgame media conference, Higgins walked into the adjacent locker room to congratulate the Roughriders.
Five field goals, a convert and a single by Luca Congi kept the home team ahead despite a 113-yard interception return for a touchdown (74 yards by Dwaine Carpenter, who lateralled to Trey Young for the final 39 yards) and two touchdown passes from Henry Burris to Ken-Yon Rambo. Calgary’s Sandro De-Angelis had three converts and a field goal.
Rambo’s second touchdown reception came with 53 seconds remaining and trimmed the lead to 26-24. Calgary recovered its ensuing short kickoff, but had to re-kick when Williams was penalized for being offside.
“We did control the ball and change the field position, that’s what we wanted to do,” said Joseph. “But we need to score more touchdowns. We weren’t happy with that. It’s good to get the points, but we really could have opened that game up.”
It was the third straight year the Stampeders have lost the West semifinal.
“It’s not three years in a row,” said Burris, an ex-Riders quarterback who joined Calgary three years ago as a free agent. “It’s one year at a time.
“It doesn’t matter who we lost to. A loss is a loss and we’re going home.”