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“It definitely drove me to work even harder,” Evans said of the drought. “You always have to find that little extra motivation to keep you going. That was definitely something that drove me this entire offseason.”

It paid off last week against Ottawa when Evans made a running grab between two defenders at the goal line. After hauling in Cody Fajardo’s 44-yard bomb, Evans tumbled into the end zone and celebrated his long-awaited first CFL major.

“As the ball was in the air, I thought about all the games last year,” said Evans, who was telling himself: “I have to catch this ball. There’s two people here but I have to catch it. Once I hit the ground and got up and saw (the official) raise his arms I was like, ‘Yes! It’s finally over!’ ”

After the game, Evans’ phone blew up with messages from family as well as fans who reached out via social media.

He appreciated all of it.

“People know my story and know I didn’t score last year,” he said. “It was a good feeling just to see everybody watching and supporting me.”

Evans is eager to move forward as he prepares for a Canada Day contest against the Toronto Argonauts at Mosaic Stadium.

With that first TD under his belt, he knows there is more to come — hopefully as soon as Monday.

“I just needed to get that one out of the way and now they’re going to come in bunches,” said Evans, who scored 14 touchdowns in three college seasons with UCLA, including nine majors in 13 games as a senior.

“I feel like now I’m going to be an even better player than I was just last week, getting it off my shoulders and knowing now I can just go play. I don’t have to worry about the record and stuff like that. It’s a great feeling.”