Darian Durant put together a vintage performance during the final night game at Mosaic Stadium on Saturday.

The Saskatchewan Roughriders’ pivot wasn’t able to finish the game, but still threw for 328 yards and a touchdown, and added a rushing touchdown as well, as his team pulled out their second straight win, beating the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 20-18.

“There’s something about these cool Saskatchewan nights,” said Durant after the win.

Durant left the game late in the third quarter as he underwent the concussion protocol following a sack by former teammate John Chick, he said after the game that he’s fine and it was precautionary. However, that left the game in the hands of back-up Mitchell Gale.

After an interception on his first throw, Gale orchestrated a stellar final drive for the Riders that set up kicker Tyler Crapigna for the game-winning 29-yard field goal with no time left.

“We won that as a team,” said Gale, who finished with 52 yards passing. “You hear all this noise around, people are happy not because of individual plays but because it was a team effort.”

Saskatchewan had been shutout in the second half until Crapigna’s winning field goal. Hamilton retook the lead with a 21-yard touchdown run by back-up quarterback Jeremiah Masoli with 4:10 to play.

Gale connected five straight passes and then ran on five straight plays on the ensuing drive to set up Crapigna for an attempt to win the game into the win.

The Riders’ rookie kicker made no mistake.

“It feels great, this team played well tonight and that’s all that matters, that we got this win as a team,” said Crapigna.

“I was good from about 43-44 into the wind and those guys did a good job of getting me in an easier field goal position for that. The wind was blowing from left to right, so I wanted it on the left post and I did everything I needed to do.”

The Riders’ defence kept the Ti-Cats in check for most of the night.

After Crapigna opened the scoring on Saskatchewan’s opening drive with a 48-yard field goal, Hamilton took a 7-3 lead thanks to a 16-yard touchdown strike from quarterback Zach Collaros to Brandon Banks.

Saskatchewan wouldn’t stay down for long as Durant connected with receiver Armanti Edwards for a diving 46-yard touchdown on the next drive to put them up 10-7.

Following a Brett Maher 33-yard field goal in the second quarter, Durant ran in from one-yard out to put Saskatchewan up 17-10 heading into halftime.

That Durant rushing score almost never happened as on the previous play, Gale fumbled attempting to sneak it in from one yard out and Hamilton returned it for a 109-yard touchdown, but the play was reversed as Gale was called down.

That swung the momentum in Saskatchewan’s favour.

Durant looked like Durant circa 2013 as he spread the ball around early in the game and had the Riders’ offence moving up and down the field. He finished the first quarter 13-of-16 for 172 yards and a touchdown.

Caleb Holley led all Rider receivers with eight catches for 110 yards, while Edwards finished with seven catches for 88 yards and a touchdown, and Rob Bagg had eight catches for 96 yards.

“It’s fun to watch (Darian playing the way he did) and it’s fun to be out there knowing that the ball is going to be on the money,” said Bagg. “I thought he was outstanding tonight.”

On the defensive side, Ed Gainey picked off Collaros’ first pass of the game. He ended up finishing with three tackles in another strong game for the defensive back.

Jonathan Newsome was a force in his first game of the season, bringing a steady rush to the defensive line, which is something that had been missed this season.

The Riders will now get a week off for their second bye week of the season. They return to game action with a trip to Ottawa to face the Redblacks on Oct. 7.