Bombers beat Redblacks; win second game in a row on last play

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This article was published 04/08/2017 (3018 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA — With the rain pouring down and the time clock completely drained, Winnipeg Blue Bombers kicker Justin Medlock made good on a game-clinching 38-yard field goal to edge the Ottawa Redblacks 33-30 Friday night at TD Place.

It was the third field goal of the fourth quarter for Medlock – who finished the night 6-for-7 – and the second straight game the Bombers have won on the final play of the night.

Last week, it was a thrilling comeback down 12 points to the Montreal Alouettes, with the Bombers scoring 13 points in the final 95 seconds to win 41-40. On Friday, the Bombers trailed by seven points following a Greg Ellingson touchdown with 5:37 left in the final frame before the visitors rallied to score 10 points, all off the foot of Medlock.

“Just how we drew it up. We don’t like to play in games that don’t come down to the last play,” joked Bombers quarterback Matt Nichols, who followed up his stellar performance last week going 25-for-38 passing for 319 yards and one touchdown. “It’s something we talk about every week: stay off the rollercoaster and find a way to win.”

“It was good to come through for the team,” added Medlock, whose lone miss came on his second attempt of the game. At that point, Medlock had missed four of his last seven attempts dating back to a Week 5 matchup against the B.C. Lions, where he fell short on a 51-yarder with no time left that would have pushed the game to overtime.

Medlock added: “They signed me here for a reason, to make big kicks. I’m grinding out there just like the other guys are and just trying to help the team.”

Perhaps the most impressive of all the kicks from Medlock — who connected on field goals from 52, 36, 22, 35, 40 and finally 38 yards — was the single he earned off a kickoff with 2:43 left that cut Ottawa’s lead to 30-27. The final two kicks for Medlock appeared to be particularly challenging as they came with a steady stream of rain and a powerful wind.

Not to mention Medlock had to work with receiver Matt Coates as his holder as his usual partner Weston Dressler was out with a lower-body injury.

“It was tough conditions — I didn’t expect that,” said Medlock, before shifting to praise the job of Coates. “We had a tough little kick into the wind there and he grinded it out with me and did a great job.”

The victory improves the Bombers to 4-2 on the year, which would be good enough for first place in the East Division but only gets a share of third spot with the B.C. Lions in a tough group in the West.

Ottawa, the defending Grey Cup champions, are now 1-5-1, better than only the 0-5 Hamilton Tiger-Cats, who were trailing the 5-0 Edmonton Eskimos at press time.

“There’s a lot of trust on the sidelines in all three phases and it comes from being there obviously and coming through these things,” said Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea. “We’ll just keep going at it but it’s important that the guys go through that and experience that adversity and understand that they can come back and win in all sorts of areas.”

The Bombers won the coin toss but elected to defer, eventually earning the wind in the fourth quarter. But at first glance, it looked like the plan backfired.

Running an up-tempo offence on the game’s opening drive, Ottawa marched quickly down field for a touchdown. A successful two-point conversion would give the home side an early 8-0 lead, milking six minutes and 30 seconds off the clock.

But Nichols and the Bombers offence would answer right back, responding with a touchdown on their first play of the game. Nichols connected with Ryan Lankford for the 79-yard catch and run. Winnipeg attempted to tie the game with the two-point convert but failed, leaving the Redblacks with a two-point cushion, up 8-6 (Winnipeg’s ensuing kickoff would be kneeled in the end zone to make it 8-7).

“Anytime you can score coming out like that on the first play and almost run the whole length of the field, it’s always exciting,” said Lankford, who paced all Bombers receivers with two catches for 82 yards and the only score on offence. “It’s a lot of ups and downs and the coach says ‘When the play is there, make it. You don’t know who is going to get it, but you know when that play comes, you’ve got to make it.”

Both teams would settle for field goals on their next drive. Ottawa’s Brett Maher hit from 37 yards out to put the home side up 11-7. On the play before the kick, T.J. Heath, who leads the CFL with four interceptions, could have had his fifth pick of the year but the ball slipped through his fingers before hitting the turf. Medlock cut the Redblacks lead back to one, 11-10, with a 52-yard boot that ended the first quarter.

The Bombers defence has taken a lot of flack through the first five games. That’s expected for a group that heading into the game was averaging the second-most yards (418.6) and points against (33.4) per game.

They’d provide the jolt the Bombers needed midway through the second quarter when Chris Randle turned a forced fumble by Taylor Loffler into a 32-yard return for a touchdown. The turnover was the first of two on the night, with the other coming on third-down gamble later in the period.

The defence also recorded three sacks, while limiting a prolific Redblacks offence to just one point in the second quarter and 10 points in the final 22 minutes. Ottawa finished the game with 382 yards of net offence — and only 263 through the air — which was the fewest Winnipeg has allowed all year.

“The strip by Loffler, Randle gets it and he’s not satisfied with just falling on the ball,” said O’Shea. “He puts his hand down so he stays alive, gets around the end and scores, so he finishes the play. You don’t ever have to be satisfied with just a fumble.”

Leading 17-12 at halftime, Ottawa opened the second half the same way they started the game.

After a strong kickoff return from former Bomber Quincy McDuffie, who signed with Ottawa earlier this week after a failed attempt to make the NFL, Harris hit Brad Sinopoli for an 11-yard pass. On the next play, William Powell ran right up the middle for a 52-yard touchdown to regain Ottawa’s lead to 23-17.

The Ellingson score late in the fourth quarter would break a 23-23 tie, setting the Bombers up for another exciting finish. And once again they’d pull it off.

“We kinda like chaos. It’s not that bad, it’s not that difficult,” said Lankford. “We knew we’ve got two minutes and we know that’s a lot of time. We just had to go out there and handle it, do what we need to do and let it all play out.”

jeff.hamilton@freepress.mb.catwitter: @jeffkhamilton