Bombers drop biggest game of season for second straight year By: Taylor Allen Posted: 12:53 AM CST Monday, Nov. 20, 2023

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HAMILTON — A room full of football players isn’t supposed to be this quiet.

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers sat in their stalls speechless with their heads down, as a teary-eyed Mike O’Shea made his way from player to player to attempt to console them with a handshake and a word or two of encouragement.

The Bombers, for a second straight year, have lost the Grey Cup in gut-wrenching fashion. With 13 seconds left, Montreal Alouettes quarterback Cody Fajardo found receiver Tyson Philpot in the middle of the end zone for a 19-yard touchdown to defeat the Bombers 28-24 at Grey Cup 110 at Tim Hortons Field in Hamilton.

“It was like seeing an accident before your eyes. Like seeing something very traumatizing happen and your heart just drops,” said Bombers receiver Drew Wolitarsky postgame.

“I’m in disbelief a little bit.”

“It was like seeing an accident before your eyes. Like seeing something very traumatizing happen and your heart just drops”–Drew Wolitarsky

In last year’s championship game, the Toronto Argonauts blocked Winnipeg’s hopes of a threepeat with a 24-23 victory in Regina. A win Sunday over the Als still would’ve cemented this Bombers era as a dynasty with three titles in four seasons.

The latest loss changes the narrative.

“This one hurts more than last year. Just because the feelings going into this game, and the games we overcame and won this year, it just felt like destiny to win this one,” said Wolitarsky.

“To not win, and for it to just end like it did so quickly, when I felt like we were in control of the game going into the fourth quarter, it hurts. It’s really tough, there’s no words.”

The Bombers were the favourites — they outscored Montreal 64-20 in two regular season meetings — but the Als entered as the hottest team in the league with seven straight wins, thanks in part to a ballhawk defence that forced 12 turnovers in their two playoff wins. Their defence won it on Sunday by causing the Bombers to turn the ball over twice in the red zone. The first came in the second quarter when Bombers running back Brady Oliveira got the ball down to Montreal’s 20-yard line before defensive back Kabion Ento ripped the ball away to cause a fumble. Ento made another huge play early in the third with the Bombers only nine yards away from paydirt. Quarterback Zach Collaros threw a pass to the back corner of the end zone to Kenny Lawler but Ento jumped up and stole it to keep Winnipeg’s lead at 17-14.

“My season that I had this year, it’s a waste,” said Oliveira, the CFL’s Most Outstanding Canadian, and the runner-up for the league’s Most Outstanding Player Award. “I didn’t accomplish what I wanted to accomplish. I didn’t have any individual goals set. I wanted to help my team, help my city win a championship and we didn’t get it done.”

The Bombers got an unexpected boost at the last minute that no one saw coming. Less than an hour before kickoff, it was announced their two injured stars — receiver Dalton Schoen (ankle) and linebacker Adam Bighill (calf) — were active. They didn’t take the field for pregame warmup or practice all week.

Bighill, who suffered a non-contact injury in the Western Final and was seen in a walking boot on Monday, played through a calf tear.

“Early in the week I didn’t even pack a bag,” said Bighill. “(Brad) Fotty (equipment manager) packed a bag for me, I really didn’t give myself much of a chance at playing. It was a pretty miraculous week with Al (Couture, head athletic therapist) and doc, and the team rehabbing. Yeah, it was pretty miraculous.”

Schoen declined to go into the severity of his ankle, but he was clearly far from 100 per cent as he was limited to three catches for 36 yards. Bighill tried to tough it out but couldn’t play the entire game on defence and ended with one tackle.

“It’s frustrating when it’s the most important game of the season, the biggest game of my career, and I wasn’t able to practise for the last few weeks going into that,” said Schoen, who hadn’t participated since going down on Oct. 6. “But you know, I was super grateful for the opportunity to play. The training staff here did an amazing job to get me ready, or at least, ready enough to get out there and be on the field. I don’t know many coaches out there that would be OK with a player not practising for six weeks and then throwing him in for a championship game. Coach believes in us as players, so, I really appreciate him.”

“It’s frustrating when it’s the most important game of the season, the biggest game of my career, and I wasn’t able to practise for the last few weeks going into that”–Dalton Schoen

Outside of the fumble, Oliveira led the charge for the Bombers with 119 yards on 19 carries and a first quarter touchdown. Collaros and the rest of the offence were a bit stagnant, as the quarterback connected on 19-of-23 passes for 236 yards, zero touchdowns, and the lone pick. Nic Demski was his No. 1 target with eight catches for 74 yards.

Collaros was outduelled by Fajardo, a quarterback the Saskatchewan Roughriders ran out of town in the offseason. Fajardo silenced his critics by going 21-of-26 for 290 yards with three touchdowns, and one interception. He made one of the plays of the night with a minute left in the game on a second and 18 as he avoided pressure to scramble for 13 yards. Down 24-21, Fajardo and the Als had to convert a third and five near midfield to keep their championship aspirations alive. He proceeded to hit receiver Cole Spieker on the sideline for a 31-yard gain on corner back Jamal Parker to stop the blue and gold confetti from making an appearance.

On the very next play, Fajardo connected with Philpot for the win. Fajardo was named the Most Valuable Player and Philpot — six catches for 63 yards — earned the Most Valuable Canadian nod. Fajardo did most of his work with Austin Mack as he led all receivers with 103 yards on six catches.

“We didn’t handle our business. As good as our defence is, we didn’t play well enough to win the game,” said defensive end Jackson Jeffcoat. “We shouldn’t have even allowed it to be close. We didn’t capitalize on times where we could’ve made some plays to finish it off. It’s just frustrating. I think we’re better than that and we didn’t show it on the biggest stage.”

The momentum belonged to Winnipeg going into Green Day’s halftime performance as they held a 17-7 advantage thanks to linebacker Shayne Gauthier, who was in for Bighill, stuffing short-yardage quarterback Caleb Evans on a third and one at the goal line. The Bombers got two rushing touchdowns from their short-yardage specialist, third-string quarterback Dakota Prukop, but were outscored 21-7 in the final two quarters.

“We just didn’t play smart football. We made way too many mistakes to win a football game”–Brady Oliveira

“We just didn’t play smart football. We made way too many mistakes to win a football game,” said Oliveira. “It’s just really unfortunate because I know how special this group was. The fact that we let it slip away, it hurts.”

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca

X: @TaylorAllen31