Trevor Harris saw a pixelated screenshot of Amar Doman with one blue and one red circle on Tommy Neild's touchdown reception that won the Western Final and stated that it was no catch.
The 39-year-old quarterback and Saskatchewan Roughriders teammates believe Neeld's three-yard catch was clearly successful when it hit the turf at the sold-out Mosaic Stadium.
“I saw the picture and that's his elbow (in the red circle). But what are they going to do? Now turn the call around, 'Hey BC, let's go (to the Gray Cup).' That was the rub – deal with it. Let's play this week, we're playing in Montreal. It was a first down, we got a second down and a third down to get three yards, I like our chances,” Harris said emphatically.
No. 7 completed six of seven passes, including the game-winning strike to Nield, during a 76-yard drive that began with just over a minute left. Nield beat Harry Peters on a slant route and stayed with the veteran defenseman in tight cover. This gave Saskatchewan a 24–21 victory over the BC Lions.
“Honestly, I didn't even know it would be considered if I was right. When I dropped it, Deontay [Williams] hit me, I fell and heard this crowd. I saw Tommy celebrating like crazy and Sam [Emilus] hugging the referee. I was like, 'OK, cool,'” Harris said.
“I left the field. I thought: “11 seconds, is there any chance of getting the ball back? Probably not.” I sat down and immersed myself in this moment for a second. All of a sudden I hear them say, “After checking…” I'm like, “Hey, wait, check?” What? What's going on here? And they were like, “The call was supported.” I thought, “OK, cool.”
Emilus took a different view than Harris. He moved down the left sideline with Nield following behind him, running a deeper route to the far corner of the end zone. The 28-year-old didn’t even see the catch that Doman questioned.
“I think we scored twice in training and Tommy scored both times. I knew it once. [Marc] Muller called the play, it’s definitely going to be a touchdown,” Emilus said confidently.
“We knew it was a ploy. If you want to stir up controversy and say it's not a gimmick, this is what he should be doing, he's rooting for his team. The league looked at it and it was a ploy.”
Nield's tackle went viral for its significance, and little did Emilus know he would be watching for what happened after the touchdown was signaled and the game was over. The 28-year-old receiver hugged official No. 46 player Rob Skaggs.
“Honestly, it just happened. I was heading over to Tommy to celebrate with him, hands up. I was trying to get the ball, we kind of bumped into each other, he looked like he was cold and needed a hug, so I hugged him,” Emilus said.
“I didn't expect it to go viral. As always, I wanted to have fun and that's what happened.”
