After catching his first career CFL touchdown pass, Brayden Lenius might be wishing he had reacted differently.
Instead of treasuring the ball caught in the milestone moment during the Saskatchewan Roughriders‘ home-opening win against the BC Lions on Friday night, the second-year receiver threw it as far as he could up into the stands.
“We gave him some hard times about that,” said Roughriders quarterback Cody Fajardo. “But the one thing is, he looked like that was his 100th touchdown because he knew exactly what he was going to do.
“But I know he was a little bit sad when he realized he just threw the ball out of excitement into the stands.”
And while Lenius probably thought he would never see the ball again, in a positive turn of events, the family who caught the ball contacted him and offered to give it back.
“I had a bunch of people from Rider Nation and a bunch of other people hit me up and say, ‘We know the people that have the ball,’” said Lenius. “It means a lot for them to be so selfless and just give it back.
“I’ll give them a couple things back in return so he will be pretty happy.”
Lenius, who was born in Regina when his dad Troy Dickey was playing for the Riders, plans on giving the ball to his mom Shauna, who can put it in his “shrine room,” as he calls it. And while he will be getting that first ball back, the 24-year-old plans on catching many more in his professional career. However, the first one will always be special.
“It feels good,” said Lenius. “It’s almost like a ‘finally’ moment to just get that under my belt.
“For it to come super early in the first game, I couldn’t ask for anything more.”