REGINA — Running back AJ Ouellette is the perfect piece to have for football games played in the cold with the highest of stakes.
The tailback joined the Saskatchewan Roughriders to play with pivot Trevor Harris, who himself joined the Riders in 2023 as part of a team-building process that is bearing fruits for the Green and White.
“Trevor’s a big reason I signed here creating this process,” Ouellette told reporters. “He called, and I knew that was a quarterback that wanted to lead us into the playoffs and into the cup.”
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The Riders finished second in the West Division with a 9-8-1 record, but went on a seven game winless streak halfway through the season that could have derailed most teams. Saskatchewan found a way back, however, winning five of their last six games, including the Western Semi-Final against the Lions on Saturday at Mosaic Stadium.
“You know, adversity reveals character,” said Harris. “Like we talked, I’m not sure that we learned anything new through that seven game stretch. It just confirmed what I thought. We have champions in that locker room.”
The quarterback never stopped believing his team could pull it off, but he also knows that their goals are still ahead of them.
“You guys probably all looked at me sideways when we lost,” the pivot told reporters. “Hadn’t won our seventh game in a row, but (still had) unflinching, unwavering belief in these guys, and I stand by it, but make no mistake, the job is not finished. We’ve won one game in the playoffs, so this is far from what we want to accomplish, but we needed to get this one tonight, (and) we did.”
Harris finished with 279 yards and a major, avoiding turnovers while leading his team to 28 total points. The pivot’s efficient outing coupled with Ouellette’s performance is the kind of ball-control, efficient style of play that usually wins games when the calendar turns to November.
“I would say the first time I picked up the phone and said, ‘Hey, do you want to come play for us?’ I was thinking about games like this in the cold,” said head coach Corey Mace about Ouellette joining the team in the off-season. “I thought this is exactly how we saw it so, happy for him.”
Ouellette himself knows that this is his time of the year.
“I asked him a couple of weeks ago before the last BC game ‘how are you feeling’, and he said ‘I’m feeling good’,” added Harris. “He goes, ‘they didn’t pay me to come here to run in June and July, they did so I could run in October, November.’ He’s like, ‘let’s freaking go.’ And that kind of sent chills up my spine. Never told him that, but I walked upstairs, I was like, ‘This guy’s freaking ready’.”