The RoughRiders built a 5-1 lead and survived the host Ohio Jr. Blue Jackets’ late charge to claim a 5-4 win Sunday night.

Early on it seemed Cedar Rapids might cruise to the win as the Riders jumped out to a 3-0 lead after one period.

The Riders opened the scoring when Mike Seidel converted a Doug Jones centering pass 3:33 into the game.

Cedar Rapids doubled its lead at 9:34 of the first when Andy Miele buried a centering feed from Pat Cannone.

The Riders were on the power play when Cannone jammed a rebound in for the third Cedar Rapids goal with 1:36 left in the opening period.

Danny Hobbs provided Ohio with a spark when he darted in behind the Rider defense to cut the deficit to 3-1 at 9:28 of the second period, but Cedar Rapids would respond with two more goals before the third period was eight minutes old.

Robin Bergman’s breakaway goal 3:02 into the third stretched the margin back to three. At 7:48 David Boehm provided the Riders’ second power play goal- off another rebound- to give Cedar Rapids a seemingly comfortable 5-1 advantage.

That goal would prove crucial, however, as Derek Roehl, Hobbs and Adam Comrie scored in a span of just over six minutes to enable the Blue Jackets to pull within one with 64 seconds left in regulation. The Riders held on to the 5-4 lead in the final minute even after the Blue Jackets emptied their net for an extra attacker.