Castillo kicks it into high gear

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 19/06/2023 (871 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

This season has been a major adjustment for kicker Sergio Castillo.

Not that he’s complaining.

The 32-year-old veteran from Amarillo, Texas, spent a lot of time standing on the sidelines in 2022 as a member of the Edmonton Elks. With Edmonton boasting the worst offence in the three-down circuit, Castillo attempted a league-low 25 extra-point converts in the 16 games he played. His 44 field goal tries were sixth in the CFL and his 48 kickoffs were the eighth most.

Now back with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers — who have scored 40-plus points in their first two games — Castillo’s leg has been busier than ever to start the year.

“Normally I do a leg workout the day after the game. But now I’ve been postponing it to two days after because the volume is definitely up. I’ll get a full rest day after a game now,” Castillo said after Monday’s practice at IG Field. “I’ve definitely had to tailor (my recovery) a bit more.”

Castillo has been nearly perfect with his heavy workload as he’s connected on all five field goal tries and has only missed one of his 10 convert attempts.

“I’ve been on teams where we’ve struggled quite a bit. In 2017 in Hamilton, we were 0-8 and struggling. In 2019 in B.C. it was the same thing. So, in Edmonton, the routine was kind of the same,” said Castillo, who signed with Winnipeg shortly before training camp after being cut by the Elks. “What I’m changing now is earlier in the week, I’m getting a higher kick count. Normally I get four to five kicks with the team, now I’m getting eight to 10. And then on my own, I normally get eight to 10, but now I’m doing 10-15 and it’s just to get the leg conditioning up right.”

“But yeah, I guess it’s a good problem to have.”

Grant’s return continues to be the talk of Bomberland

Football is the ultimate team game.

Janarion Grant’s 92-yard punt return touchdown in the Bombers’ 45-27 victory over the Saskatchewan Roughriders on Friday proved that sometimes there can be exceptions to the rule.

Just ask Bombers special teams co-ordinator Paul Boudreau.

“It’s probably up there at No. 1,” said Boudreau after practice on Monday when asked to rank the return. “In sports, a lot, they say you can’t do it all on your own. But he pretty much changed that theory right there. There was really a bunch of guys out there, watching him break tackles and trying to catch up, if they could, to make at least one block.”

Grant, who now has 10 return scores since arriving in Winnipeg in 2019, made nine Riders miss and threw several stiff arms along the way. With Grant running side to side to dodge all the green and white shirts, Boudreau estimates the returner from Rutgers ran a total of 150 yards on the play.

“For him to still have air in his lungs by the time he got to the goal line was just as impressive as breaking eight or nine tackles,” said Boudreau.

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @TaylorAllen31

Taylor Allen
Reporter

Taylor Allen is a sports reporter for the Winnipeg Free Press. Taylor was the Vince Leah intern in the Free Press newsroom twice while earning his joint communications degree/diploma at the University of Winnipeg and Red River College Polytechnic. He signed on full-time in 2019 and mainly covers the Blue Bombers, curling, and basketball. Read more about Taylor.

Every piece of reporting Taylor produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.