Argonauts beat Bombers to punch playoff ticket
WINNIPEG — The Toronto Argonauts’ defence came to play on Friday night. The Argos came away with a 14-11 victory in a defensive showdown with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the opening game of Thanksgiving Weekend presented by Purolator to punch their ticket to the playoffs and bring Winnipeg’s eight-game winning run to a halt.
The Argos’ defensive unit produced two turnovers and seven sacks at Princess Auto Stadium to quiet a usually efficient offence and sweep the season series with the Bombers. Folarin Orimolade had two sacks of his own as well as a game-sealing interception to ice the game in the final seconds of the fourth quarter.
On offence, Toronto’s Chad Kelly threw for 203 yards and a touchdown, while Makai Polk led his team’s receivers with 82 yards on four catches. David Ungerer III had Toronto’s only touchdown of the day with a 13-yard grab in the first quarter.
Zach Collaros went 23-30 for 249 yards and an interception in the loss at home. Brady Oliveira totalled 105 yards from scrimmage on 21 touches and Kenny Lawler led his team in receiving, going for 108 yards with his six receptions.
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Carey burst through a hole for a 21-yard gain on Toronto’s first possession. Fellow running back McMahon caught a pass for a 17-yard pickup. From the red zone, Kelly had time in the pocket to pick out Ungerer on a slant route for his first receiving touchdown of the year.
The B0mbers began the ballgame with back-to-back two-and-outs after Collaros was brought to the turf Orimolade for an eight-yard loss. With yards hard to come by on offence, a big play on special teams by Brian Cole gave the home team the ball after being forced to punt. Cole forced a fumble out of return specialist Janarion Grant and recovered the ball as well to give Winnipeg the ball at Toronto’s nine-yard line. With two scoring opportunities on Toronto’s doorstep, Terry Wilson Jr. was unable to jam into the end zone, resulting in a turnover on downs at the one-yard line.
Oliveira helped the Bombers to just their second first down of the ballgame with a big 26-yard run through the middle. Winnipeg’s running back was stopped on an ensuing second-down play, leaving Sergio Castillo to attempt his first field goal of the night from 42 yards out. His kick flew wide left, resulting in a single as Toronto went into the second quarter up 7-1.
After Winnipeg’s defence came up with a stop on third down the home team’s offensive unit got their first touchdown of the game. Collaros’ deep ball to Lawler good for 49 yards set the Bombers up inside Toronto’s 20. A couple of plays later, Collaros was brought down by Brinkman for an eight-yard loss, resulting in Castillo’s 26-yard field goal. Toronto’s Lirim Hajrullahu would knock in a couple of field goals of his own to give the Argos a 13-4 advantage at the break.
Just when things were beginning to click on offence for the Bombers after the interval, an untimely fumble lost by Collaros brought any potential momentum shift to a halt. Mark Milton tackled the scrambling Collaros and Wynton McManis came up with the loose football.
One play after the turnover, Kelly connected with Polk for a 39-yard completion deep down the right side of the field. The Argos eventually got the ball to Winnipeg’s goal line, but Kelly was stuffed on a third-down quarterback sneak as the visitors turned it over on downs.
The Bombers would put together another productive drive on offence but couldn’t finish it off with a score. This time it was due to a missed field goal as Castillo hit his 48-yard attempt off of the upright to keep the score at 13-4 early in the fourth quarter.
The home team finally got their first points of the second half and first touchdown of the night courtesy of Wilson’s sneak at the goal line. Lawler drew a defensive pass interference call in the end zone to bring the offence to the one-yard line and from there, Wilson snuck in on his second attempt to make it a 13-11 game with 4:18 to go in the contest.
After the Argos were forced to punt for the third time in the second half the Bombers had the chance to produce a game-winning drive with 2:27 on the clock. Collaros was sacked for a seven-yard loss on second down, bringing up a crucial third-and-long. Scrambling out of the pocket with no options deep, Collaros was forced out of bounds by McManis just shy of the first-down marker, handing possession back to the away team as Toronto would hold on for a 14-11 win.
The Argonauts return home for a meeting with the Ottawa REDBLACKS on Saturday, October 19 in Week 20. Meanwhile, the Blue Bombers will have the week off before facing off against the Alouettes in Montreal on Saturday, October 26.
