Making his pre-season debut on Saturday, Mason Fine’s first touch of the football went about as badly as you could imagine.
“Coming out after sitting for a while and then you throw a pick-six on your first throw,” said Fine. “So, you’re down there bad for a little bit.”
Fine was intercepted for an 11-yard touchdown by B.C. Lions linebacker Ryder Varga in the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ first game of the pre-season, putting the team down by a 27-17 score.
Saskatchewan’s second-string quarterback from last season was able to put that mistake behind him, however, as he aired out a pair of late touchdowns to Mitch Picton to lead the Roughriders to a 30-27 come-from-behind victory.
“Staying resilient, having a chip on your shoulder,” said Fine. “Going out there and knowing what you know, but also proving your doubters wrong and a lot of the other people that we can go win this game. As long as there’s time and downs on a clock, I always say we got a chance.”
With starter Trevor Harris at home for the birth of his third child, the Roughriders cycled through all three of their remaining pivots on Saturday who are all fighting for the team’s backup role.
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Fine and Shea Patterson both found the end zone through the air against the Lions with the latter scoring a third-quarter touchdown on a pass to Keith Corbin III.
Returning quarterback Jake Dolegala was 10-for-17 over the first half and contributed with a quarterback sneak touchdown himself.
“Obviously, you want to throw together a couple of good drives,” said Dolegala. “Putting points on the board is always a plus. But just being able to do my job, I think that’s the biggest thing.”
Celebrating the birth of his son Tripp, Harris watched from afar in Ohio on Saturday as Saskatchewan’s three other pivots combined for 284 yards passing.
“I didn’t expect myself to be pacing around my living room, especially for a pre-season game,” said Harris. “I was getting hyped watching Jake and Shea and Mason, and all of the guys making plays.”
Roughriders head coach Craig Dickenson has since reviewed the tape on the three quarterbacks and their performances against the Lions.
Strong outings from all three means the race for backup is razor-thin, however this week at practice could bring some answers ahead of Saskatchewan’s final pre-season game against Winnipeg on Friday.
“I thought all of them played well,” said Dickenson. “So, it’s going to be a strenuous week for the quarterbacks. We’re going to test them a little bit and hopefully one of them separates. But I thought all three played well.”
Whoever is able to seize the job at the end of camp will be relied upon to come up big in short-yardage situations.
“Just watch the tape,” said Fine. “I’ve done some quarterback sneaks last year and I never stopped. I got more than a yard, it was two or three. Even though I’m small, I’m 100 per cent conversion on quarterback sneaks and haven’t been stopped yet. So, that’s all I’ve got to go off of.”
This will likely be the most important week of camp for Saskatchewan’s quarterback group, knowing their moment to shine could be just around the corner.
“You got to be ready no matter what,” said Patterson. “I know you don’t get a lot of practice reps here as the two, three, four guy. But that’s how the game is, you’re not going to be warmed up and you’re going to go in maybe the biggest moments of the game. You have to be ready to go, so that’s what I’m going to do.”
The Roughriders will close out their third week of training camp on Thursday, before heading to Winnipeg for Friday’s pre-season game against the Blue Bombers at 6:30 p.m.