There will be no playoff football this season for the Saskatchewan Roughriders for the first time since 2011.

With three games remaining in the regular season, the inevitable happened for the Riders as they were officially eliminated from the playoffs with Friday night’s 30-15 loss to the Tiger-Cats in Hamilton.

The Riders record dropped to 2-13 with the loss as they head into their second bye week of the season.  The next action for the Riders is on Satuday, Oct. 24 when they host the Edmonton Eskimos.

Brett Smith finished the game at quarterback for the Riders, leading to the team’s two touchdowns.  He finished the game 11-for-20 for 243 yards with two scores and one interception.

Smith hit Weston Dressler for 79-yard touchdown on the Riders’ second possession of the third quarter.  He also found Ryan Smith for a 68-yard major with 1:57 to go in the fourth quarter.

Kevin Glenn couldn’t get the offence going in the first half, completing 11-of-1 passes for 67 yards and one interception.

Saskatchewan stuck with Hamilton in the first quarter with Hamilton leading 3-0 after Justin Medlock hit a 25-yard field.  The Riders had a chance to take the lead after a lengthy first drive that ended with veteran kicker Paul McCallum miss a 37-yard field goal.

That all went away in the second quarter as Hamilton exploded for 17 points.

Quarterback Jeff Mathews hit Luke Tasker for a nine-yard touchdown to make it 10-0 with under eight minutes to go in the second.  Hamilton made it 17-0 with a six-yard touchdown catch by receiver Tiguan Underwood.

Another Medlock field goal made it 20-0 for the Ti-Cats at halftime.

Mathews added to the lead with an 87-yard touchdown pass to Terrell Sinkfield Jr.  

Making just his third start, Mathews completed 22-of-33 passes for 385 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions.  Sinkfield Jr. had four catches for 163 yards, while Underwood also went over 100 yards with five catches for 108.

Dressler woke out of his midseason slump to pick up five catches for 104 yards, while Smith also had five catches for 95 yards.

The Riders will return to the field next Saturday to take on the Eskimos in their final home game of the season.  

Hamilton has taken over first place in the East Division for the weekend at least.  They have a 9-5 record, which puts them two spots ahead of Toronto and Ottawa.  The Argos head to Montreal on Thanksgiving Monday.

There’s two West Divison battles on the CFL schedule for Saturday with the 10-4 Eskmos in Calgary to take on the 11-3 Stampeders, while Winnipeg hosts BC.