Castillo leads special-teams resurgence

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This article was published 14/10/2015 (3739 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It hardly rates as a surprise the Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ best special-teams day of the season yielded a valuable victory.

Rather than the frequent tally of missed this and blown that, the Bombers had excellent execution Saturday in Vancouver, enough to put them over the top in a 29-26 victory over the Lions that keeps their playoff aspirations in play.

It included:

Sergio Castillo’s five-for-five day in field-goal attempts in his first CFL game, including the game-winner from 41 yards with no time remaining in the fourth quarter.;

Castillo’s strong leg was a factor on kickoffs, especially a late-game boot near the goal-line that kept the Lions deep in their own end;

A blocked punt by Teague Sherman, scooped up by Ian Wild for a third-quarter touchdown;

A pair of first downs from fake punt/direct snaps.

“It felt really good to come out of there with the performance we had on specials,” said Kelowna, B.C., native Jesse Briggs, who took one of those direct snaps and gained 11 yards for a first down in the fourth quarter. “We’re really starting to jell, all the core guys on specials as a unit.

“So that feels really good. I remember coach Mike O’Shea saying earlier in the season when we were having our struggles, that, ‘You guys are going to be the reason we win games down the stretch,’ so hopefully we can keep that going.”

Briggs, a second-year player who was the team’s 2014 second-round draft pick, said Saturday’s calls were not white-knuckle time for him and his teammates.

“You’ve got confidence in the other guys out there that everyone’s going to execute their assignment,” Briggs said. “There’s no nervousness in it. We know what we’re doing out there. It is a risk, obviously, but it’s a calculated risk.”

More of the same over the season’s final three games could be a major asset, but Briggs wasn’t eager to chat about that.

“We’ll see what we’ve got in store,” he said. “I can’t give away any secrets but obviously we’ve got a good group of guys that are playing with confidence now. We’ll see how that goes.

“We always say that special teams controls momentum of the game. So if we score on offence, we have to run down and cover the kick and make sure it’s a good coverage. It’s little things like that that control the momentum of the game.”

Castillo more than took care of his share of the momentum Saturday.

‘It felt really good to come out of there with the performance we had on specials’

— Jesse Briggs

The 24-year-old Texan was still grinning Tuesday, but low-key nonetheless after his five-field-goal, two-convert performance.

“Just any way to contribute to the team,” he said.

He’ll be kicking again Friday in Ottawa.

“I’m excited and ready to get back to work,” Castillo said.

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Plenty of folks have sent him their congratulations on a fine first game, but Castillo said he’s been so busy, he’s barely had time to notice.

“I had a lot of stuff to do, get back in the weight room and had some homework,” he said, referring to the online classes he’s continuing. He’s doing a master of education administration. “So I didn’t pay much attention to it.”

Bombers head coach O’Shea, who took over responsibility for special teams a month ago, said Tuesday hard work is finally starting to pay off.

“I think the core group of special-teamers over the course of the regular season have made different decisions to just take control of their own unit,” O’Shea said. “They talk about it more. They seem to meet a little more on their own. That kind of ownership among the players makes the difference.”

tim.campbell@freepress.mb.ca