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LIVE BLOG: Week 9 Saskatchewan Roughriders at Montreal Alouettes

A moment-by-moment look at the Canadian Football League contest between the Saskatchewan Roughriders and Montreal Alouettes on Saturday night
Randy Palmer
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KeeSean Johnson leads the Roughriders receiving corps into Montreal to face the Alouettes on Saturday evening.Michael Scraper

7:24 p.m.
After a contacting the kicker penalty gives the Als new life, Ray lays a hammer of a sack on MBT, the ball pops loose, Sanders gets the scoop and rumbles 45 yards all the way to the end zone! Play is under review, and it's ruled MBT was down by contact. Als decide to challenge, looking for a roughing the passer call and they don't get it. Turns into a 14-yard loss on third down, Riders get the ball back on the Montreal 46.

7:22 p.m.
The sack attack is back! Riders continue to get pressure on MBT and this time they get home, with Rose getting the job done.

Meyers' latest offering...

7:18 p.m.
Drive ends on Montreal 24, Lauther comes in and hits a 32-yard field goal, Saskatchewan goes up 21-6 with 8:47 to play in the third quarter.

7:16 p.m.
Meyers with another one! Beats his man on the play action pass and gets behind his man on a corner route. That's a 32-yard catch down to the Montreal 31. That's four catches for 112 yards thus far.

7:11 p.m.
Looks like Snead has a catch and fumble that was recovered by the Riders, but things are being reviewed...and it's an incomplete pass. Maltos goes for a 54-yard field goal and he's once again good from super long range. 18-6 Saskatchewan with 11:48 left in third quarter.

7:07 p.m.
And we're back underway, Montreal starts the drive at their own 31. Evans in at QB for a couple plays and almost gets picked by Milligan on his first pass. MBT back in and completes a dump pass to Snead to get into RIders territory at the 50.

6:55 p.m.
And we're on schedule. Players are coming out of the locker room, the 10 minutes are up on the clock and we'll back in action soon. Radar looks like things are going to be rainy for the next bit, but the lightning has moved on.

6:51 p.m.
Here's the official notification. Apparently there will be a half-hour delay every time lightning is seen, and the Voice of the Riders Dave Thomas reports there was a visible strike moments ago, so we might be paused for awhile.

6:43 p.m.
Welp, instead of the potential smoke delay, we've got a lightning delay. Looks like the storm isn't that big, but it's there, so we're in a hold. Plan is to return to the field at 6:55 p.m. and have a 10 minute warm-up, with the game resuming at 7:05 p.m.

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Roughriders first half stat leaders: Harris 12-for-17 passing for 177 yards and one touchdown. Ouellette seven carries for 30 yards. Meyers three catches for 80 yards, Nield two for 39. Sayles and Reavis with four tackles each. 212 yards total offence.

Alouettes first half stat leaders: Bethel-Thompson 8-for-15 passing for 54 yards, Thomas-Erlington three carries for 15 yards, Snead four catches for 39 yards. Burns and Kennedy four tackles each. 80 yards total offence.

The Riders defence is most certainly getting the job done, and while their offence could have a few more points, a lead ls a lead.

Montreal has to clean up the bad penalties at bad times, they only had four in the first half but cost themselves 50 yards.

Now the question is if Saskatchewan can get a full 60 minutes and turn this into a romp...

6:17 p.m.
Als get up to own 52 but drive stalls, Riders get the ball back on own 35 after another Montreal penalty. 35 seconds left in quarter. Riders kneel on third down and Saskatchewan goes into the dressing room with an 18-3 lead.

Thurman's pick...

6:12 p.m.
Riders go two-and-out, Couch punt goes deep into the end zone and Montreal concedes the rouge. 18-3 Saskatchewan with 1:23 until the half.

6:10 p.m.
Interception! Als get into Riders territory, but Riders tackles leader Thurman is in the right place in the middle of the field an dives to snare an MBT pass. Saskatchewan ball at the Riders 50 with 2:09 left in the half.

Meyers' huge catch:

6:04 p.m.
Couple of short runs get down to Montreal 6, but a time count violation on a third-down gamble ends the drive at the three minute warning. Lauther hits the 17-yard chip shot, and it's 17-3 Saskatchewan.

6:02 p.m.
Dohnte Meyers! Riders fake the run, Harris pump fakes, Als bite, Meyers catches the ball at the Montreal 45 and goes all the way down to the 12. 58 yard catch!

5:59 p.m.
Als get into Saskatchewan territory, but a a screen pass that lost a yard and a pass well short of the first down and it's a field goal attempt. Maltos is good from 52 yards and it's 14-3 Saskatchewan with 5:20 left in the second quarter.

5:56 p.m.
Montreal gets ball at own 42 after a 32 yard return by Lindsey.

Here's Nield's big catch that helped get the Riders down the field...

5:51 p.m.
TOUCHDOWN ROUGHRIDERS! Nield snares a 13-yard pass and has a touchdown in his first game since recovering from a training camp ankle injury. Nine plays, 79 yards, taking 6:06 off the clock. 14-0 Riders with 8:54 left in the half.

5:49 p.m.
Johnson makes the catch along the sideline, cuts back inside and gets down to the Als 19.

5:47 p.m.
Nield makes his first catch of the season in his first start, gaining 26 and getting Riders into Montreal territory at the 26.

5:46 p.m.
Riders nearly get an interception on second down, Als punt and Riders get the ball back on own 31.

5:42 p.m.
That's the end of the first quarter, Riders lead 7-0.

5:39 p.m.
An incompletion and a sack for a seven-yard loss sees the Riders punting, with Als scrimmaging from their own 16 after the punt.

5:35 p.m.
Riders defence gets the job done, allowing Montreal only three plays before gettting the ball back. A penalty on the punt return sees the Riders get the ball back on their own 43.

5:29 p.m.
Harris completes a pair of passes to Johnson and Meyers up to own 54, but a short pass to Robustelli and an incompletion sees the drive end. After the punt Montreal gets the ball back at their own 21.

5:25 p.m.
Als get up to own 49 before drive stalls, Montreal punts and Riders get the ball back on own 24.

5:22 p.m.
Montreal gets the ball at their own 34 on their first drive of the game.

Here's the return that set the Riders up for that great first drive...

5:18 p.m.
TOUCHDOWN ROUGHRIDERS! Stevens plunges through for his third touchdown of the season. Three opportunities on short yardage, and Stevens converts all three. 10 plays, 56 yards, 7:57 off the clock. About as perfect a start as Saskatchewan could have hoped for!

5:16 p.m.
Ouelltte hauls in a pass to the flat and gets down to the Als two yard line.

5:15 p.m.
Robustelli nearly hauls in a diving catch in the end zone and then nearly gets the first down on the next play, Stevens gets five yards on the short yardage play and Riders are in the red zone.

5:13 p.m.
Unnecessary roughness penalty gets Riders into first down range at Montreal 37, drive continues to Als 30 thanks to catch in traffic by Robustelli..

5:09 p.m.
Great return to start the game as Meyers gets the ball all the way up to the Montreal 54. Nice field position to start the game.

5:07 p.m.
Riders lose the coin toss and will get the ball to open the game. 

4:26 p.m.
As one would expect, the oddsmakers have this as a close one, with the Riders three point favourites. Luc thinks the Riders have a good chance to win but will be in a close and tough battle, so he's going with Montreal covering the spread. The over under is 49.5, and with two of the league's top defences going at it, Luc is taking the under.

3:56 p.m.
Looking to be a beautiful and somewhat breezy night in Montreal, with the temperature around 27 C at kickoff and falling to around 22 C in the evening. The winds will be around 20 km/h from the southwest, gusting to 35.

Now for the rather unbelievable: Montreal is currently under a special air quality statement due to wildfire smoke from the Prairies. Air quality readings at the Stadium were 59 and 59 as of 5 p.m., which is well below the CFL's air quality cutoff of 80, or 8 on the Environment Canada scale. 

Now for the even more unbelievable: Conditions are expected to substantially worsen over the next few hours, moving into the 100-plus (10+ Very High Risk) range by Saturday night.

So it's not just us out west who are having to deal with Marlboro Full Flavour air quality... hopefully things stay as they are and we don't end up in, oh, say, a four hour delay and the game played on Sunday...

2:00 p.m.

It’s the marquee game for Week 9 in the Canadian Football League, it’s the Saskatchewan Roughriders taking on the Montreal Alouettes from Percival Molson Memorial Stadium in Montreal!

Saskatchewan holds the best record in the league at 6-1 and are coming off a sack-filled 21-18 victory over the Edmonton Elks. Montreal is tied for first place in the East Division with a 5-2 record and took a 23-21 win over the Calgary Stampeders in Week 8.

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The Roughriders depth chart. The biggest news is wide receiver Samuel Emilus being sidelined with a knee injury, giving Tommy Nield a chance for his first start of the season at slotback. The offensive line received some reinforcements as Payton Collins returns at left tackle and Zack Fry at left guard. 

Trevor Harris is having an outstanding season at QB, completing 187 passes for 1,894 yards, 11 touchdowns and four interceptions for a 118.3 efficiency rating, tops in the CFL among starting quarterbacks. KeeSean Johnson has been his favourite target with 39 catches for 503 yards and two majors, Dohnte Meyers isn’t far behind with 30 catches for 429 yards and four touchdowns. A.J. Ouellette is third in the CFL in rushing with 92 carries for 490 yards.

Linebacker Jameer Thurman leads the Riders with 42 tackles, Rolan Milligan Jr. and Tevaughn Campbell each have a pair of interceptions.

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The Alouettes depth chart. The biggest buzz out of Montreal is the return of veteran defensive lineman Shawn Lemon, who was reinstated by the CFL last week after serving a suspension for gambling. He’ll back up starter Lwal Uguak as the weak side defensive end.

McLeod Bethel-Thompson gets the start at pivot for the Als, having completed 75 of 112 passes for 752 yards, four touchdowns and three interceptions. Tyler Snead is Montreal’s top receiver with 31 catches for 440 yards, Cole Spieker has 30 catches for 335 yards and three touchdowns. Sean Thomas Erlington is their top ball carrier with 66 attempts for 308 yards and two touchdowns.

Defensive back Najee Murray is tops in tackles with 35, while Kabion Ento has three interceptions.

The Rider Broadcast Network pregame show with Teagan Witko, Justin Dunk and Wes Cates is currently underway, and you can catch the game call with Dave Thomas and Luc Mullinder when things kick off at 5 p.m.!