Durant leads Riders over Argos

Two lousy turnovers.

That was what two of the Canadian Football League's most fumble- and interception-prone teams produced on Saturday afternoon at the Rogers Centre and wouldn't you know it — one of them decided the game.

Dalton Bell, the former Saskatchewan Roughriders' third-string quarterback, had his Toronto Argonauts right in the game with enough time left to go for a tie when he was hammered by Keith Shologan, fumbled and had to watch from the prone position as Marcus Adams recovered on the 22.

A Luca Congi field goal from 22 yards out with six minutes to go provided the game's last points in the Riders' 27-16 victory.

"We moved the ball well but we have to limit our turnovers on offence," said Bell. "[My lost fumble] was big …I didn't see [Shologan] at all."

With the victory, Saskatchewan clinched a playoff spot, improved to 9-4 and is still two points back of Calgary for first in the Western Division with a home game against Toronto next week followed by a showdown with the Stampeders.

"In order to get first place, we're going to have to earn it, we're going to have to beat Calgary," Durant said. "But these are the games we can't let slip.

"We have to take care of business right here and now. We'll worry about first place when it's time."

Toronto dropped to 6-7 and can fall to third in the East if the Hamilton Tiger-Cats beat lowly Edmonton on Sunday. A loss in Regina next Saturday could drop the Argos even further behind Hamilton.

"It will be a good test for us," Toronto head coach Jim Barker said. "Will we go in strong or wilt?"

Mistakes? Not us

This was a well-played game by two teams with well-earned reputations for sloppiness.

Coming into this one the Argonauts had committed a league-worst 45 turnovers and they were coming off a disaster in Moncton last week that had produced seven big ones in an embarrassing loss.

The Riders are a much better team, but they are almost as bad hanging onto the ball with 40 turnovers into Saturday.

But at the Rogers Centre, in front of 23,873 fans, Saskatchewan committed no turnovers and Toronto two. And there were only eight penalties — five of them for just five yards each.

The offences

Riders' quarterback Darian Durant threw for more than 300 yards, and Andy Fantuz went over 1,000 yards receiving for the first time to key an attack that chose the air route.

"In front of my family and friends, it's special," Fantuz, a Chatham, Ont., native, said of the milestone. "It's fun to play in front of everybody because I don't get to see them that often so it's kind of like a little reunion.

"But most important is getting the win."

Making his first pro start in place of Cleo Lemon, who has a concussion, Bell worked with a game plan that focused on Cory Boyd, back from his own concussion.

Boyd had 145 yards on the ground, while Bell was a constrained but pretty good 16-of-24 for 153 yards and no interceptions.

The scoring

Saskatchewan dominated the time of possession in the first quarter but only came out with a 10-7 lead. They settled for a field goal after a long drive to open the game and piled up a lot of yards after getting pinned on the five-yard line, only to punt again.

The teams traded touchdowns — Bell's run in from the 13 for Toronto and Durant scampering across for the Riders.

Argos tied the game on a field goal early in the second quarter, but Durant's laser to Chris Getzlaf in the end zone put Saskatchewan up again.

After another Argo field goal the teams went to the dressing room with the Riders up 17-13.

The Riders added to their lead when Durant hit Fantuz on a pretty 66-yard pass-and-run that the Argos could only answer with a 52-yard field goal by Justin Medlock.

From there the defences took over, forcing five straight possessions to end in punts before Bell's fumble set up Congi's fourth-quarter field goal.