Bombers dominate Roughriders 35-10 in front of sold-out crowd to win Banjo Bowl

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This article was published 07/09/2019 (2193 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Few could have imagined that the Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ most complete game of the season would come with their most incomplete roster.

But that’s exactly what unfolded in front of a sold-out crowd at IG Field on Saturday afternoon, as the Bombers saw notable contributions from all three phases en route to a convincing 35-10 victory over the Saskatchewan Roughriders in the 16th annual Banjo Bowl.

“It’s pretty damn good,” Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea said after the game. “There’s always a few little things that you want to correct and there’s always a couple plays that each guy is looking at that he’d want to do a little better, but I’m very happy for the guys. They worked extremely hard and they put it out there on the field tonight.”

With the win, the Bombers improved to 9-3 and have a 11/2-game lead on the Roughriders, who dropped to 7-4, for top spot in the West Division. The victory also evens up the three-game season series, with the final game to be played in Regina on Oct. 5.

Winnipeg now heads out on a bye week after playing 11 straight weeks, a stretch in which they went 8-3.

“Absolutely, they need it,” O’Shea said of the weeklong break. “I can see my couch. I can see my fridge.”

The Bombers didn’t dress a short bench, so it wasn’t exactly an incomplete roster, at least not in the literal sense. But their 45-man lineup was missing a number of key contributors — so many, in fact, it created some serious doubt amongst a nervous fan-base that they could defeat a red-hot Roughriders club.

Saskatchewan entered the game with six straight wins and had defeated Winnipeg a week earlier, 19-17, in the Labour Day Classic at Mosaic Stadium. The fact the Bombers were without No. 1quarterback Matt Nichols, the CFL’s leading rusher Andrew Harris, and a pair of receivers in Lucky Whitehead and Nic Demski made it all the more impressive that they didn’t just beat their Prairie rival, they dominated.

“Saskatchewan, they’ve been playing great football for the last couple of weeks and we’ve been playing great football for the last couple of weeks. It’s coming down to who wants to be first in the West,” Bombers defensive end Willie Jefferson said. “We didn’t want the game to be close. We wanted to come out there and throw the first punch.”

The first punch proved to be more of a knockout blow. The Bombers opened the game with a 15-play, 102-yard drive that was capped off with a one-yard quarterback sneak from Chris Streveler. The series included nine first downs, three of which came on Roughriders penalties, and lasted more than half the first quarter.

Winnipeg looked doomed to punt early, too, as the drive opened with a sack that pushed the Bombers back seven yards to their own 3. But Streveler answered with a 17-yard run to gain the first down, and eventually moved the ball to the Roughriders’ goal line before punching it in for a 7-0 lead.

“It takes a certain strong will, and good mindset to step out on the field as an offence and say, ‘Yeah, we’re going to do this,’” O’Shea said. “That first drive, 81/2 minutes and scoring a touchdown to finish it off, was as big a drive as there is.”

It was the first of five touchdowns for the Bombers on the day and first of four by an offence that finished with 329 net yards, 25 first downs and held possession for nearly nine more minutes than the visitors (34:26 to 25:34).

“I feel like I’m always comfortable with the game plan. We spent a lot of time going back and forth with what we like all week and coaches do a great job drawing things up and then we did a great job executing,” said Streveler, who finished 15-for-21 passing for 186 yards and two touchdowns. “We’re running the ball well; we’re catching the ball and breaking tackles. I couldn’t be happier for all the guys that played today and a lot of guys stepping up in positions they’re maybe not used to play and playing extremely well.”

Nichols missed his third straight game as he continues to heal from a shoulder injury that is expected to keep him out at least another month. Harris was serving the final game of a two-game suspension for failing a drug test. The losses of Whitehead and Demski were more fresh, the result of injuries suffered from last week’s loss.

The Bombers looked to Daniel Petermann and Rasheed Bailey to fill in the holes at receiver. Bailey, who caught all three of his targets for 33 yards, was making his first CFL start, while Petermann, who has played in every game this season, was promoted to a bigger role in relief of Demski.

Petermann would make a big impression midway through the second quarter, reeling in a five-yard catch for his first touchdown of the year. The score capped off a series that went 10 plays for 78 yards and increased the Bombers’ lead to 14-3 after the Roughriders added a 16-yard field goal as the first frame expired.

Petermann’s touchdown was followed up by two more from players who earlier in the season were limited to backup roles, proving just how deep the Bombers are.

Janarion Grant, who was signed in July to return kicks after Charles Nelson went down, recorded his third return touchdown of the season. He travelled 72 yards to paydirt to extend the Bombers lead to 21-3.

Johnny Augustine, who handled the backfield duties for Harris, reeled in a short pass up the middle and scampered 58 yards before diving for a touchdown early in the third quarter, in what would be the final points for Winnipeg. Augustine finished the day with a combined 138 yards, leading the Bombers in both rushing (75) and receiving (63) yards.

“These questions have come up before, when we’ve talked about our depth. And I’m not sure if you just don’t believe me, or what. We’ve been on an 11-game schedule here. From a bye week in Week 2, we’ve gone 11 weeks and we’ve used damn near our full roster,” O’Shea said. “They understand what it means to step in and honour their teammates.”

The Bombers defence limited the Roughriders to just 17 first downs and 267 yards of net offence. They forced six three-and-outs, created three turnovers and recorded five sacks. A forced fumbled by Jefferson with just 46 seconds remaining before halftime led to another Streveler one-yard score. Winston Rose’s league-leading eighth interception stalled another lengthy drive late, ending any chance of a comeback.

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The only life Saskatchewan had on offence was in the final moments of the third quarter, when Roughriders pivot Cody Fajardo rushed eight yards for a touchdown before failing on the two-point attempt.

“Everything,” Fajardo said when asked what went wrong in the game. “They came in hungrier than us.”

“We failed in all three phases of the game and they embarrassed us. That’s a very humbling feeling for us to come in here and just get our butts whipped. And there’s nothing else to be said other than that’s a great football team over there. We didn’t show up.”

jeff.hamilton@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @jeffkhamilton