The Saskatchewan Roughriders got the Calgary Stampeders monkey off their back on Sunday afternoon with a 30-25 win at Mosaic Stadium.  It was their first win against their West Division rivals since the 2010 playoffs.

The Riders also made good on head coach Corey Chamblin's guarantee by holding Calgary running back Jon Cornish to under-100 yards for the second time this season.

“When I thought about the guarantee, it was more so a guarantee to back the defence.  It wasn’t so much as a challenge to them, it was guarantee that this defence would be ready to go and this defence was ready to go,” said Chamblin after the game.

“We did it as a team, all 12 guys hustled and played to the end and at the end we came away with the win,” said linebacker Joe Lobendahn on the extra motivation from Chamblin’s guarantee.

Cornish finished with 12 carries for 67 yards on afternoon as the Stamps went away from the running game and leaned more on the pass.  Quarterback Kevin Glenn finished 24-of-38 for 270 yards passing with two touchdowns and one interception.

On the Riders side, quarterback Darian Durant looked improved coming off an injury, going 22-of-35 for 264 yards passing and two touchdowns, and playing one of his best games of the season.  Durant didn’t run once as he’s coming back from a hip flexor injury, but he also wasn’t sacked as the offensive line provided good protection all game despite missing guard Brendon LaBatte.

“That was some of the best protection I’ve seen all year from that group,” Chamblin said about his offensive line’s performance.  “I don’t know what Darian promised them, but he better do it again because they really blocked for him and they did some good things.”

The game didn’t start off great for the Riders as slotback Chris Getzlaf fumbled on the opening play from scrimmage, giving Calgary good field position.  They capitalized with a 33-yard field goal by Rene Paredes to go up, 3-0.

Saskatchewan responded on their next drive though as they went 67 yards on 12 plays and ended with a one-yard touchdown run by backup QB Drew Willy.  His third touchdown of the year put the Riders up, 7-3.

The Stampeders jumped in front 10-7 on a 10-yard touchdown pass from Glenn to Marquay McDaniel at the start of the second quarter.

The only other points in the first half came when Riders’ kicker Sandro DeAngelis hit from 38-yards out to make it a 10-10 tie at the break.

The Stampeders got another field goal from Paredes on their opening possession of the second half as he was good from 37-yards for a 13-10 lead.

The Riders drove into scoring position on their next possession, but wide receiver Taj Smith couldn’t come up with a catch in the end zone that led to DeAngelis kicking a 22-yard field goal to tie the game back up.

An interception by linebacker Joe Lobendahn on the Stampeders next play turned the fortunes the Riders way and they would score their second touchdown two plays, Durant hooked up with slotback Weston Dresser for an 11-yard score, and the Riders went up for good, 19-13.

Dressler was Durant’s top target in the game as he finished with eight catches for 98 yards and the touchdown.  

“We kind of recognized some things they liked to do on defence and we thought we could find some holes in their go-to defensive looks that they had and we were able to execute some good plays,” explained Dressler.

“He’s our go-to guy and he’s the one that’s going to make plays, so we had a long talk this week and we’re going to live and die with him,” added Durant.

Smith was able to redeem himself for his earlier drop as he caught Durant’s other touchdown pass, a 30-yard TD late in the third quarter, that put the Riders up 27-13 with a quarter to go.

“It built my confidence that he does trust in me.  I was kind of disappointed with myself and I’m just happy he did come back to me,” stated Smith as he finished with three catches for 55 yards.

Paredes connected on another field goal for the Stampeders to start the fourth quarter, it was from 44 yards for his third fiedl goal of the day.

The Riders went two-and-out right after to set up another scoring opportunity for Calgary on their next drive and they capitalized when Glenn hit McDaniel from seven yards out for his second touchdown of the game.  A two-point conversion put the Stamps within three with 2:44 to go.

Kick returner Tristan Jackson gave up a single on the ensuing kick off to make the score 27-25.

Calgary got the ball again, but couldn’t do anything with as they went for it on third down and Jackson made the play to knock it down, making up for the miscue on the single.

The Riders used their good field position to widen their lead with a 37-yard field goal by DeAngelis and Jackson picked off a Hail Mary by Bo Levi Mitchell to seal the 30-25 win.

The win improves the Riders to 6-6 as they head into the final stretch of the regular season.  Calgary drops to 7-5.

Saskatchewan gets Monday off and then returns to the field on Tuesday to start getting ready for the West Division leading BC Lions to come to Mosaic Stadium.

RIDER NOTES: The Riders lost three players during the game from their defence as defensive tackles Keith Shologan (shoulder/collarbone) and Mick Williams (undisclosed) both left the game and halfback Eddie Russ appeared to injury his right leg in the fourth quarter.

-- The game was another sell-out for the Riders with 33,427 on hand.

-- Durant moved into third place in team history as he went over the 17,000 yards passing mark during the game.  Weston Dressler also moved into sixth place all-time in receiving yards, passing Dan Farthing.

Click here for more on the big performance by the Riders defence against Calgary.