Roughriders rout Blue Bombers for 1st win of season

It feels like a brand new season for the Saskatchewan Roughriders.

Quarterback Brett Smith threw for 211 yards and rushed for 59 yards as Saskatchewan beat the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 37-19 on Sunday for the Roughriders first victory of the year. The win comes after head coach Cory Chamblin was fired on Monday, replaced by Bob Dyce in the interim.

"Everybody is excited and I think we're going to celebrate it tonight, but there's a bigger mission that these players and these coaches have," said Smith. "It's just not about one win. It's about finishing strong and getting as many wins as we can to make the playoffs and eventually the Grey Cup."

The Riders (1-9) pulled to within four points of the fourth-place Blue Bombers and now sit six points behind the B.C. Lions (4-5).

Despite a horrendous 0-9 start to the season, Saskatchewan has hope for a second-half push for the playoffs. But it won't be easy.

They'll complete the home-and-home series with the Blue Bombers next week before they play host to the Ottawa Redblacks and Montreal Alouettes to close out September. They'll face three West Division rivals in October, as well as the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

"We still have lot work to do," said receiver Ryan Smith. "We have been preaching all week to just go 1-0 each week and continue to work at it. We'll see the results like we did today."

Jerome Messam rushed for a team-high 73 yards for the Riders. Nick Demski scored his first professional touchdown against his hometown team on a 60-yard punt return for Saskatchewan.

"It felt pretty good," said the first-year Riders receiver, who had 107 combined return yards. "Hopefully it rubbed it in their face a little bit. It definitely was a great feeling to score my first touchdown against my hometown Winnipeg Blue Bombers."

Demski's big play changed momentum in the favour of the Riders, who handed the Bombers (3-7) their fourth straight defeat.

"I'm happy for Nick to score against his hometown team," said Dyce, also a product of Winnipeg. "I had bugged him after the Ottawa game saying he didn't know how to get to the end zone That was a huge spark for us (today). It was our first touchdown of the game, it tied up the game and it was just a really big play."

Winnipeg quickly jumped out to a 10-0 lead before the game was seven minutes old thanks to a Lirim Hajrullahu field goal and a one-yard touchdown run from quarterback Brian Brohm.

Saskatchewan countered with a Paul McCallum field goal early in the second quarter, which set the stage for Demski after the defence forced a quick two and out.

"Everybody had great leverage and I just saw the hole," Demski said of his return. "Everyone did their job and I found the hole and ran to open space and then into the end zone."