A couple of young quarterbacks orchestrated a shootout in Ottawa on Thursday night.

The Saskatchewan Roughriders lost 44-41 to the Ottawa Redblacks in a back-and-forth game that featured almost a thousand yards of offence.

"I thought the offence was clicking today, but when all was said and done, we gave the ball up twice and that was the difference in the game," said Riders head coach Craig Dickenson.

Cody Fajardo looked stellar in his first start at quarterback for the Riders, finishing with 360 passing yards and two touchdowns, while also adding a rushing score in the loss.

He said that he settled in as the game went on.

"I missed my first pass early, I was pretty amped up and I missed it high and outside, but after that, the coaches on the sidelines, the offence was very supportive of me and I settled in and was able to feel comfortable back there in the pocket," said Fajardo.

The Riders were planning to use backup quarterback Isaac Harker in the game as well, but Fajardo's performance made a switch unnecessary.

"He was in a rhythm and we just left him in and let him go," said Dickenson. "I thought he played great, really did a good job of rallying the offence, they gave us a chance and I was proud of the effort."

Despite their record falling to 0-2, the Riders are coming out of Week 2 in a better place than they were after last week's loss.

"Obviously losing isn't fun, but we did a lot of good things offensively, defensively and special teams-wise, it came down to the turnover battle," said Fajardo. "It was a battle, the tougher team was going to win that game and they proved that they were tougher than us tonight and that’s why they came out with the W."

Ottawa quarterback Dominique Davis threw for 354 yards and three touchdowns against the Riders' defence. The Redblacks had an answer for everything that the Riders threw at them throughout the game.

Fajardo found Marcus Thigpen for a 19-yard touchdown to open the scoring in the first quarter, but Ottawa took a 9-7 lead after one thanks to Davis hooking up with Dominique Rhymes for a 20-yard score.

A 57-yard field goal from Brett Lauther in the opening minute of the second quarter moved the Riders back in front but Ottawa took control for the rest of the quarter, moving in front 31-17 at one point.

Fajardo connected with Shaq Evans for a 44-yard touchdown with 11 seconds left in the first half to cut Ottawa's lead to 31-24 at the break.

Ottawa extended their advantage to 38-27 as the teams traded field goals in the third quarter, but a six-yard touchdown run from Thigpen and a one-yard score from Fajardo in the fourth pulled the Riders within three. They couldn’t close the gap in time though.

Despite giving up 447 yards and 44 points, Dickenson said the loss was on the turnovers, not the defence.

"That's a good outfit out there, maybe a little underrated going into the season, they're a pretty solid group, we certainly didn't play our best on defence, so we'll look at the film, make the corrections, but we felt like we gave ourselves a chance to win at the end and I told the guys I was proud of them for doing that," said Dickenson.

Fajardo found chemistry with a pair of second-year receivers for the Riders in the game as Kyran Moore finished with five catches for 117 yards, while Evans had seven grabs for 103 yards and a touchdown.

"Just being able to be with those guys in training camp and having a full week of taking those one reps, it was huge for my progression and getting comfortable with those guys, staying after practice and throwing certain throws with those guys," said Fajardo on their quick chemistry. 

"The receivers made a lot of contested catches tonight, the offensive line did a great job protecting me, we did a lot of good things on offence."

The Riders will now look for their first win when they host the Toronto Argonauts on Canada Day at Mosaic Stadium.