Bombers rise to the challenge

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This article was published 30/07/2022 (1186 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

CALGARY — They wouldn’t admit it, but the deck was stacked against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers on Saturday night.

Their injury-depleted roster went up against a Calgary Stampeders team, that was fresh off a bye, at McMahon Stadium — a place the Bombers haven’t won at in the regular season since Nov. 3, 2017 and Bo Levi Mitchell wasn’t playing in that game. To make the task even more daunting, the Stamps were 19-2 after bye weeks since 2008.

But like they have all season long, the Bombers found a way to overcome whatever obstacle is in their way to get the job done. Led by a dominant performance on offence, the Bombers outlasted the Stampeders 35-28 in front of 25,147 fans to keep their perfect record intact and improve to 8-0. The Stampeders, who also lost to Winnipeg at IG Field in Week 6, drop to 4-2.

“That’s a hell of a game. I know we played fairly clean. From the way it felt, Calgary was playing really clean, too. So, I think the fans got their money’s worth,” said Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea.

“Someone’s got to win and someone’s got to lose, but that was a hell of a football game.”

It’s only the second time this season the Bombers have scored more than 30 points in a game. On this night, the offence made play after play as Oak Park High School products Nic Demski and Brady Oliveira led the charge.

Demski hadn’t practised in a month. He missed four weeks of action after suffering an ankle injury in Week 3 that put him on the six-game injured list. It caught everyone by surprise to see him ready to go on Saturday, but Demski was certainly ready and not just out there as a decoy.

The Winnipeg-born receiver quickly reintroduced himself with a four-yard touchdown grab in the first quarter to give the Bombers a 7-6 lead after Calgary settled for a pair of field goals. Demski’s second catch would also hit paydirt as Zach Collaros hit him on a post route for a 16-yard score to put the visitors back up 14-9 early in the second quarter. Calgary’s offence moved the ball in the first half, but only had four Rene Paredes field goals — including a career-long 53-yarder — to show for it.

Demski caught seven of nine targets for 69 yards. Demski wasn’t the only pass-catcher in blue and gold to have a big night as rookie Dalton Schoen also hauled in a pair of touchdowns. Schoen, who now has six touchdowns, had 80 yards and four catches.

“It means a lot. That’s something that I was anxious about, just having my confidence back and getting my first catch,” Demski said.

“My first target was a drop, so I left some plays out there, but at the end of the day, I made some plays, got my feet under me, and I’m just excited to go back out there and compete next week as well.”

Oliveira had his best game of the season by far. The 24-year-old’s play has been criticized this season, but even his biggest of doubters had to tip their caps on Saturday as he rushed for 110 yards on 15 attempts. Oliveira had a 3.4 yards per carry average heading into the game and hadn’t had a rush go for more than 10 yards. The Stamps held him to eight yards on nine carries two weeks ago.

It was the first time Oliveira has rushed for 100-plus yards since Week 11 last season.

“There’s definitely been critics out there. I think for me, this means so much for me being a Winnipeg kid and playing for my hometown,” Oliveira said.

“Seeing people out there not believe in me and Winnipeggers not believing in me, yeah, it upsets me, it hurts me because I want to make this city proud. So, a game like that, showing them I got some speed, I can make people miss, and I can get some long runs. It was definitely great for my confidence.”

It was the perfect timing for an Oliveira breakout as Calgary has arguably the league’s best tailback in Ka’Deem Carey. The former Chicago Bears running back tormented Winnipeg for 110 yards on 12 carries in Week 6 and he was back at it again on Saturday. The Bombers hadn’t surrendered a single rushing touchdown all season but Carey, who had 92 yards on the ground and 32 through the air, snapped that streak by scoring two in the third quarter to give Calgary a 25-24 lead heading into the final frame.

Calgary should’ve had a bigger lead than that, but they couldn’t buy a touchdown in the first half. The Stamps were the better team early on, but it didn’t matter as the Bombers’ defence held them to four field goals.

“I think holding them to the four field goals in the first half was a great effort. They’re going to score touchdowns at some point and sure enough they did,” O’Shea said.

“We sort of went back and forth with them which is nice to see all of our phases compete. Not that you doubt it, but once again, everyone was working hard and it was clicking pretty good. That’s as clean of a game as you’re going to find.”

Neither team turned the ball over. The Bombers outgained the Stamps 430-358 and looked way sharper than the team that eked out a win in Edmonton the week before with only seven pass completions. Collaros was at his best in Calgary, completing 22-of-30 throws for 270 yards to go along with his four touchdowns. His first pass of the game should’ve been intercepted for a touchdown by Stampeders defensive back Jonathan Moxey, but outside of that, Collaros was as good as it gets. The Bombers were down 28-25 with eight minutes left in the game when Collaros marched them down the field on a seven play, 70-yard drive capped off by Schoen’s second touchdown — a 25-yard strike to win the game. Winnipeg would tack on another three points with 48 seconds left with a 40-yard Marc Liegghio field goal.

The Bombers were 11-for-19 on second down. Mitchell completed 66 per cent of his passes for 219 yards for Calgary.

“That’s Zach Collaros for you. He was MOP last year for a reason and he’s making a great case for himself this year as well,” Demski said. “That’s my quarterback, I love him. I love going out to war with him. When he looks you in the eyes and you know that it’s your time, it just means the world. I love him leading this team and he just does a great job of doing it.”

The win gives the Bombers the season series against Calgary as they only play once more (Aug. 25 in Winnipeg). The victory also marks the first time since 1962 that the Bombers have won their first five road games in a season. They don’t have much time to enjoy this one as they play the Montreal Alouettes (2-5) on Thursday at Molson Stadium.

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @TaylorAllen31