Photo courtesy: Saskatchewan Roughriders.
Trevor Harris saw Amar Doman’s pixelated screenshot with one blue circle and one red circle on Tommy Nield’s touchdown reception that won the West Final and his claim it as not a catch.
The 39-year-old quarterback and fellow Saskatchewan Roughriders teammates believe Nield’s three-yard TD reception was clearly a catch as he hit the turf at a sold-out Mosaic Stadium.
“I saw the picture — that’s his elbow (in the red circle). But, what are they gonna do? Reverse the call, now, ‘Hey, B.C., come on (to the Grey Cup).’ It was a catch — get over it. Let’s go play this week, we play Montreal. It was first down, we got second down and third down to get three yards, I like our chances,” Harris said emphatically.
Screengrab courtesy: Amar Doman on Instagram
No. 7 completed six-of-seven passes, including the decisive strike to Nield, during a drive that covered 76 yards and started with just over a minute left on the clock. Nield beat Garry Peters on a slant route and hung on with the veteran defensive back in close coverage. That gave Saskatchewan a 24-21 win over the B.C. Lions.
“Truthfully, I didn’t even know it was getting reviewed, if I’m being real. When I threw it, Deontai [Williams] hit me, I fell down and I heard that crowd. I saw Tommy celebrating like crazy and Sam [Emilus] hugging the ref. I’m like, ‘OK, cool,’” Harris said.
“I walked off the field. I was like, ’11 seconds, is there a chance we get the ball back? Probably not.’ I sat down and soaked in the moment for a second. All of a sudden, I hear them go, ‘After review…’ I was like, ‘Whoa, hold up, review? What? What’s going on here?’ And they’re like, ‘The call has been upheld.’ I was like, ‘OK, cool.’”
Emilus had a different view than Harris. He was in motion on the left side as Nield trailed behind him, running a deeper route towards the back corner of the end zone. The 28-year-old did not even see the catch, which was called into question by Doman.
“I think we hit that play twice in practice and Tommy scored both times. I knew that once [Marc] Mueller called the play, it would be a touchdown for sure,” Emilus said confidently.
“We knew it was a catch. You want to build some controversy and say it wasn’t a catch, that’s what he’s supposed to do, he’s rooting for his team. The league reviewed it and it was a catch.”
Nield’s grab went viral for its significance and little did Emilus know he would be trending for what happened after touchdown was signalled and the play was over. The 28-year-old receiver hugged official No. 46 Rob Skaggs.
“To be honest, it kind of just happened. I was making my way to Tommy to go celebrate with him with my hands up. I was trying to retrieve the ball, we kind of ran into each other, he looked like he was cold and needed a hug, so I gave him a hug,” Emilus said.
“I didn’t expect it to go viral. Like always I wanted to have fun with it, and that’s what happened.”
