Bombers ride Collaros’s arm to win over Stamps

Zach Collaros must’ve found the fountain of youth during his most recent absence.

Nobody has feared the Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ passing attack all season, and yet, their veteran pivot aired it out early and often on Saturday night in a game they needed to win.

Led by Collaros and go-to target Dorian Singer, the Bombers prevailed 33-28 over the Calgary Stampeders in front of a sold-out crowd at Princess Auto Stadium to heavily increase their odds of making the playoffs.

“That’s vintage Eight-Ball right there. You love to see it,” said receiver Nic Demski. “Especially the opportunity that we had and him coming back this week, it was just a picture-perfect story.”

With the win, the Bombers improved to 8-8 and now just need to finish the season with at least the same record as Calgary or Saskatchewan to qualify for the post-season since they own the tiebreaker over both West Division foes.

The loss dropped Calgary to 8-9 who could’ve clinched a playoff berth with a victory.

The Bombers currently reside in fourth, but if Saskatchewan (8-7) loses Monday in Montreal, they’ll bump up to third.

“It was obviously a huge game, a lot on the line, playoff atmosphere, all those things,” said Collaros.

“Couldn’t ask for a better day. Couldn’t ask for a better environment. As always, our crowd brought the energy, made it difficult for them, and really gave us a lot of life out there.”

Entering the week, the Blue and Gold ranked dead last in both passing yards and touchdowns. They were also second last in explosion plays and average yards per play.

They woke up in a big way in this one with Collaros — who missed the last two games with a head injury he suffered in the Banjo Bowl — having four completions of 39 yards or more to finish 19-for-27 for 349 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception.

Collaros got after it early by hitting Singer for a 52-yard bomb — his longest throw of the season — on the second drive.

“I think it’s just mentality. We know we’re capable of that as a group,” said receiver Tim White, who caught four passes for 78 yards.

“Just seeing the ball fly up in the air, it just makes you want to step out as an offence on the field again, again, and again and I felt like we just continued the energy all night and there was never a doubt.”

Singer, a rookie who was on the practice roster for the first 11 games of the season, led the way with five catches for 166 yards — the most by a Bomber receiver this season.

“It’s pretty cool. My family was here. They drove six hours from Minnesota,” said Singer.

“But it’s a team game. I’m just proud of my team and just happy we got to come out and get a win.”

The Bombers jumped ahead 17-9 in the second after Collaros got out of a messy pocket, rolled out to his right, and fired a pass to the back corner of the south end zone to Demski for a 25-yard score.

On the opening play of the second half, Trey Vaval increased the home side’s advantage to 24-9 thanks to a sizzling 88-yard kickoff return touchdown.

It was Vaval’s second return touchdown of the season and first since his 129-yard missed field goal return against Toronto that cemented a 30-21 win on July 10.

“We knew it was gonna come sometime,” said Vaval.

“We didn’t know when it (would be) but we were gonna get one of them sometime … You just got to make them plays when they come to you.”

The Stamps didn’t roll over, however. They punched back with a pair of touchdowns from running back Deonta McMahon to cut Winnipeg’s lead to 24-22 heading into the fourth.

That would be as close as they would get as the Bombers would tack on three Sergio Castillo field goals in the final 15 minutes before the Stamps scored a rushing touchdown with 17 seconds left on the clock.

Calgary quarterback Vernon Adams Jr. completed 29 of 43 passes for 284 yards and one touchdown.

The Stampeders outgained the Bombers 124-61 in rushing yards but went 0-for-2 on two-point converts. Kicker Rene Paredes missed a 46-yard field goal in the second quarter.

“Vernon is having one of the better seasons, I think, statistically, like passer rating-wise, this league’s ever seen,” said Collaros.

“So, when you when you’re playing against a guy like that, who’s that dangerous playing with the ball, it’s tough to kind of hold them down. (Our defence) did a great job making them kick field goals. You got to score touchdowns, and they did a great job preventing that, especially early on.”

Bombers running back Brady Oliveira had just three carries for 22 yards after three quarters. He finished with eight for 40, while also helping as a pass catcher with three grabs for 29 yards.

Oliveira had a costly fumble in the third that set up McMahon’s second score.

“I mean, obviously, myself and I’m sure the offensive line would say that maybe we want to get fed a little bit more, but at the end of the day, we were winning, I thought we were controlling the game even by throwing, by what we were doing,” said Oliveira. “

“If teams want to load the box on us, it’s a sign of respect that obviously, we do something right … So, it’s almost like pick your poison. I’m really proud of the guys for how we fought tonight.”

Winnipeg is in Edmonton next week to play the Elks (12-4) on Friday before closing out the year on the road against the B.C. Lions (10-6). The Stamps play their final regular-season game next week against the Lions.

The Riders host the Alouettes (12-3) next week before finishing with the Elks coming to town.

This race is going down to the wire.

“If we build on (tonight) and play good, three-phase football, I think we like where we’re going to go,” said head coach Mike O’Shea.

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