With a sell-out crowd sounding like it was at a rock concert on a glorious September afternoon, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ offence made beautiful music in the annual Banjo Bowl.
The Bombers scored touchdowns on all four of their first-half possessions, added points the first eight times they held the football, and scored on nine of 10 possessions in the game, on the way to a 54-20 destruction of the arch-rival Saskatchewan Roughriders in front of 32,234 fans at IG Field.
“For all of us, it’s rewarding,” said Bombers quarterback Zach Collaros, whose team scored seven touchdowns in the game.
“You don’t go out there to punt the ball, you don’t go out there to get field goals. You do it to score touchdowns. For all of us it’s definitely rewarding to that today.”
Winnipeg swept the annual Labour Day Classic-Banjo Bowl series for the second straight year and improved its record to 12-1, leaving the Bombers comfortably in first place in the West Division.
Collaros had a big day, completing 21 of 25 passes for 273 yards and four touchdowns. Meanwhile, Riders’ starter Cody Fajardo managed just 124 yards on 15 completions.
“I think it’s special … it was really efficient,” Callaros said of the offence. “We were really good on first down and we had a handful of second-and-ones. Any time you can be that efficient on first down, it’s going to make for longer drives and you’re able to wear them down. In the second half we just continued to lean on them and it was awesome.”
The Riders announced several changes just before the game, as a number of players were affected by a flu bug or possible food poisoning.
Backup quarterback Mason Fine, defensive back Jayden Clark and fullback James Tuck were all taken off the roster, while star receiver Kian Schaffer-Baker was among those that dressed but could not play.
“It started with walking into the locker room and it looked like a triage in there,” Fajardo said. “The amount of guys that were sick, throwing up, coming out both ends, it was pretty ridiculous. I have a lot of heart for those guys. Our entire offensive line was sick and they went out. We were giving them IVs just to get them on the field. We didn’t have anything else to do.”
The Bombers appeared to take full advantage, scoring touchdowns every time the offence held the ball in the first 30 minutes.
“That’s crazy,” receiver Nic Demski said, of the team’s offensive prowess. “I don’t think I even noticed it until probably the fourth quarter when I asked, I think it was (Dalton Schoen), ‘Did we punt yet today?’ It’s just a great job by the offence to go out there and score that many points, to put that many drives together and some of them were long drives as well. Just speaks volumes to the type of offence we have here.”
In the first half alone, the Bombers scored more points than they did in the Labour Day Classic a week ago in Regina, when they won 20-18.
They put together 10-play, 73-yard drive that ended in a 16-yard pass from Collaros to Demski.
Then it was a 97-yard, 13-play march that ended with short-yardage quarterback Dakota Prukop’s three-yard sneak for a major.
Then it was a six-play drive, culminating in another Demski touchdown, this time on 18-yard pass-and-run play.
And finally, they marched 70 yards on four plays and got a terrific 34-yard catch-and-run from Bailey for another score. Bailey caught a slant over the middle, charged toward the sideline, and dove for the pylon to record the touchdown.
It looked nothing was going to deny him from reaching that marker.
“There was no way,” said Bailey, who was the Bombers’ top offensive producer, with 83 yards on five catches.
“I waited to be in that position for a while now. I ain’t taking no for an answer. I’ve been working. It’s been showing up in practice. It’s been showing up every single week. I’m getting into that end zone. I’m going to continue proving that I’m one of the best dudes in this league. And tonight I was able to prove that. And I want to keep building off that momentum and just ride this wave.”
Place-kicker Marc Liegghio missed one of four converts in the first half and the Bombers were left with a 27-10 lead.
The Riders, now 6-7 and fourth in the West, got a Fajardo touchdown in the second quarter, a kickoff return major to start the second half from Mario Alford, and a pair of Brett Lauther field goals to account for their scoring.
After the Alford touchdown it was all Bombers.
Brendan O’Leary-Orange, who came into the game when receiver Drew Wolitarsky was injured in the second quarter, caught his first career touchdown pass from Collaros and Prukop plunged in for another major.
Defensive end Willie Jefferson had a strip sack, recovered by Jackson Jeffcoat at the Riders’ 25, and defensive back Winston Rose had an interception that he returned to the 25, to set up scores.
“Like I said at the beginning of the game to the guys, today was our day,” Jefferson said. “We at home, we got a perfect crowd, the atmosphere was amazing, we had a great week of preparation. Everybody was locked in, dialled in, ready to play. Like I said, ‘Why not today?’ And we did that.”
The Bombers’ final touchdown came when backup quarterback Dru Brown hit rookie Schoen for his league-leading 10th major of the year. It was Brown’s first career CFL touchdown.
Bombers coach Mike O’Shea gave the Riders credit for making a game of it, at least in the first half, when they had so many players not feeling well.
“Yeah, I mean, we let them hang around, especially at the end of the half and the beginning of the next one,” O’Shea said. “But we were moving the ball real well and taking the ball away in the second half a few times. Full marks for their effort. They were depleted. They had a lot of roster changes right (before the game) and guys weren’t feeling well, I’m sure. So, a gutsy performance by them, for sure.”
The Bombers and Riders meet again on Sept. 30 at IG Field, but with Winnipeg already having won the season series against division rivals Calgary and Saskatchewan, there doesn’t seem to be much of a race for first place anymore.
“Crucial,” Demski said. “You want to take down the West (Division). You want to take down every team. But when you take control of the west, it gets us closer and closer to our goal. It speaks volumes to what this team brings.”
Twitter.com/Ted_Wyman
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