Bombers looking forward to shot at redemption in Banjo Bowl

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This article was published 02/09/2018 (2611 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

REGINA – There was an awful taste lingering in the mouths of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers following a 31-23 loss to the Saskatchewan Roughriders in Sunday’s annual Labour Day Classic game.

The good news, however, is they won’t have to wait long for a shot at redemption. That’s because in less than a week, Winnipeg and Saskatchewan will meet again in the annual Banjo Bowl tilt Saturday afternoon at Investors Group Field.

“That part of it is nice,” Bombers quarterback Matt Nichols said after the game. “You feel like you did leave some stuff out there and I felt like at times we were playing well and sometimes it is nice to go play that team again and see if you can’t play a little bit better.”

With Sunday’s loss, the Bombers have now lost 13 of the last 14 Labour Day weekend games in Regina. In the Banjo Bowl, which was named in 2004 following remarks from former Bombers kicker Troy Westwood, the Bombers are 8-6 in 14 games. Winnipeg has won four of the last five.

“We’re excited to get back and play them for Round 2,” Bombers linebacker Adam Bighill said. “They’re a good football team, they played good and made a couple good adjustments at the end of the game and that’s what makes this game fun: it’s never the same.”

With the loss, the Bombers dropped to 5-6 and have now lost three straight games. They sit in fourth place in the West Division, and a win over the Roughriders, who jumped to a tie for second in the division with a 6-4 mark, next week, would go a long way in their pursuit to climb back up in the standings.

“Just coming together. Not a lot of finger-pointing, not that we do that, but we’ve just got to get tighter as a group,” said Bombers starting running back Andrew Harris when asked what Winnipeg needs to do to rebound next week.

“All three phases need to come together and play a great game and we didn’t do that tonight. We need to come together as a team and fight for each other.”

Next week, the Bombers won’t have to adjust to the loud crowd noise like they did on Sunday, running a silent count for much of the game because it was too loud to hear the play calls. Nichols downplayed the impact of the Roughrider fans, but does expect to have the Bombers faithful return the favour next week.

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“I think we handled it pretty well. It was loud out there but I don’t think it affected us much at all,” the Bombers pivot said. “Guys were on the same page; I think we had one time we jumped offside. But aside from that I thought we handled it really well as an offence and now they got to deal with it next week.”

Asked where his team’s psyche is at after losing three straight games, Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea said he plans to prepare his team to be better for the rematch.

“It leaves us at 5-6 with a game against the same opponent in six days. We’ll stick to the same process of making sure we correct the process,” said O’Shea. “Trust me, everybody has got a sour taste in their mouth. They’ll be hard on themselves and we’ll make sure we’re better next week.”

jeff.hamilton@freepress.mb.ca

twitter: @jeffkhamilton

Jeff Hamilton
Multimedia producer

Jeff Hamilton is a sports and investigative reporter. Jeff joined the Free Press newsroom in April 2015, and has been covering the local sports scene since graduating from Carleton University’s journalism program in 2012. Read more about Jeff.

Every piece of reporting Jeff produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.