Big Blue leaving points on the field

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ 34-30 loss to the Saskatchewan Roughriders in Sunday’s Labour Day Classic was a stark reminder football is a game of inches and the margin for error is razor thin.

Lifelong Riders fan shifts loyalty after joining Bombers

It was a childhood dream for Ethan Ball to suit up in the CFL’s heated rivalry on the Prairies.

The rookie safety from Regina just never imagined it would be in blue and gold.

“If I’m being honest, there was definitely no blue being worn in the Ball household — especially during these back-to-back games,” said Ball, who was selected in the sixth round, 54th overall, by the Bombers in the 2025 CFL Draft.

Now being involved is just as sweet for him — even though there was a time in his life when it pained him to see his favourite Rider, receiver Weston Dressler, close out his career in Winnipeg. The moment Ball was drafted into Bomberland, one of the first things to come to mind was the idea of returning to Mosaic Stadium as a visitor for the Labour Day Classic. That vision became a reality last Sunday — and it’s something he’ll never forget, even though he was greeted by thousands of boo birds in green before the Riders went on to prevail 34-30.

Schoen’s 2025 campaign ends

Dalton Schoen’s season is over.

The star receiver for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers tore his ACL in Week 5 in Calgary and opted to not get surgery. The club revealed Friday that he rehabbed for six weeks and attempted to play through it in last Sunday’s Labour Day Classic in Regina before realizing it wasn’t possible.

The two-time CFL all-star will now get surgery and miss the remainder of the 2025 campaign. This is the second year in a row Schoen has torn the ACL in his left knee.

“He could’ve had surgery however many weeks ago, but he put the team first,” said quarterback Zach Collaros.

Get your banjos out

This year’s Banjo Bowl has a tough act to follow.

The Labour Day Classic in Regina lived up to its name, with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and Saskatchewan Roughriders trading haymakers before the green and white escaped Mosaic Stadium with a 34-30 victory.

No matter what happened the week before — or where the teams sit in the standings — the rematch in Winnipeg is always a game both fans and players circle on the calendar.

“It’s my favourite game of the year,” said running back Brady Oliveira. “It’s just the atmosphere, the energy — it’s exhilarating. There’s something about the Banjo Bowl.”

Offhand insult in 2003 gave rise to the Banjo Bowl — one of CFL's most-colourful and enduring rivalries

It was the verbal shot heard ’round the world. Or at least, across a pair of Prairie provinces.

Canadian Football League fans in Manitoba and Saskatchewan are well familiar with the origin of the Banjo Bowl, the annual tilt that pits the host Winnipeg Blue Bombers against their principal rival, the Saskatchewan Roughriders.

Followers of both teams can tell you that the match evolved out of a comment uttered by former Bombers placekicker Troy Westwood in September 2003, when he sarcastically referred to Saskatchewaners (Saskatchewanites? Saskatchewians?) as “banjo-picking inbreds.”

Then, how he doubled down on that jibe a few weeks later when, at a scheduled news conference, he told members of the media that he had misspoken, as “the vast majority of the people in Saskatchewan have no idea how to play the banjo.” (For the record, Westwood’s mom was born in the Land of the Living Skies, and his aunts and grandmother were living there when he was spouting off.)

Bombers, Elks looking for Labour Day retribution on their home fields

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers and Edmonton Elks have a shot at earning Labour Day redemption this week.

Both teams are home after dropping the opener of their respective Labour Day series on the road. Winnipeg lost 34-30 to the Saskatchewan Roughriders on Sunday before the Calgary Stampeders dispatched Edmonton 28-7 on Monday.

Winnipeg (6-5) hosts Saskatchewan (9-2) in the Banjo Bowl on Saturday afternoon while Edmonton (4-7) returns to Commonwealth Stadium to face Calgary (8-3).

The Riders look to earn their first Labour Day sweep since 2018. Ironically, Bombers quarterback Zack Collaros was under centre for Saskatchewan back then.

Bombers’ comeback comes up short in Labour Day Classic

REGINA – Sunday’s Labour Day Classic had all the drama we’ve come to expect between these Prairie rivals, as the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and the Saskatchewan Roughriders went right down to the wire in front of a packed house at Mosaic Stadium.

The Bombers looked finished, trailing 31-17 with just minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. But instead of a slow burn to the finish line, Winnipeg mounted a fierce comeback with two quick touchdowns, only to fall a two-point convert short of completing the improbable comeback.

With the game on the line, Roughriders defensive back Tevaughn Campbell snuffed out Zach Collaros’s game-tying pass intended for Dalton Schoen, intercepting it and returning it to the end zone for a game-sealing two-point score. That play sealed a 34-30 victory for the Riders and sent a majority of the 34,000-plus in attendance home happy.

It was the fourth straight LDC decided by four points or fewer, with the three prior Classics all decided by just two points. The loss snapped a two-game win streak for the Bombers, dropping them to 6-5 on the year, while the Riders improved to a CFL-leading 9-2 after rebounding from a disappointing loss to the Calgary Stampeders in Week 12.