SASKATCHEWAN – The Saskatchewan Roughriders made sure that the Winnipeg Blue Bombers weren’t going to clinch a playoff berth in their house on OK Tire Labour Day Weekend.
The Riders held the Bombers on a two-point conversion as they stunned the visitors 32-30 in overtime in front of a sold-out home crowd at Mosaic Stadium.
Jake Dolegala threw for 326 passing yards as the Riders pulled off the upset while Tevin Jones led the team with 96 receiving yards.
Zach Collaros threw for 279 yards, two touchdowns and an interception in the loss while Brady Oliveira led the Bombers on the ground with 88 rushing yards and two touchdowns.
Early in the matchup both sides would show how tough their respective defences were, as neither side could find any sort of rhythm on a drive, with Nick Marshall grabbing his fourth interception of the year on Collaros to stop a Bombers drive early.
Th Riders would get on the board first, settling for a 48-yard field goal from Brett Lauther as Winnipeg’s defence did their part to stop momentum just as well.
Oliveira continued to be the workhorse for the Winnipeg offence, having eight carries and 62 yards in the first half, as the Riders defence held Collaros held to two yards, five attempts, one completion and an interception through the first 25 mins.
But still unable to drive downfield, Saskatchewan took their shot with a big drive by led Jake Dolegala in his third career start, as Tevin Jones made one of the biggest plays of the game, going 64 yards over Demerio Houston‘s undercut attempt.
On the next play of the drive Mitchell Picton grabbed his first catch of game, gliding on a tightrope down the sideline to set up first and goal. With the Riders converting at a rate of 43 per cent this year inside the 20-yard line, Antonio Pipkin would punch the ball in on third and goal.
Collaros would flash his brilliance late in the second quarter, as he immediately found Dalton Schoen for 20 yards and a first down, and followed it up as he found Nic Demski who made a highlight-reel one-handed catch for 46 yards, as the Bombers moved over 50 yards on two plays.
Roughriders DL Micah Johnson #4 standing over Winnipeg QB Zach Collaros Photo: Arthur Ward/CFL.ca
Drew Wolitarsky would notch his fifth touchdown of the season as Collaros would move out to the edge and find space to throw a ball deep 34 yards into the end zone and put the Bombers on the scoreboard for the first time all game.
While Dolegala continued to move smoothly, finding Kian Schaffer-Baker out long to get inside the 50-yard line, the Riders couldn’t finish either of their next two drives and would settle for two field goals from Lauther to lead by nine points.
After the Bombers’ next drive was almost ended on second-and-20, a penalty on the Riders kept the drive alive and Collaros found Demski for 52 yards to get inside the five-yard line. Oliveira tallied his fifth rushing touchdown of the season to bring the Bombers within two points.
As the clock ticked down to close the third quarter, Lauther made a 17th-straight field goal putting a 53-yard attempt through the uprights to give the Riders a five-point cushion going into the final frame of action.
Starting the drive at midfield to kick off the fourth quarter, Collaros found Kenny Lawler for 13 yards for his first catch of the game, and targeted Schoen for another 24 yards to get within Saskatchewan’s 20-yard line. But unable to get a score on the ground, Sergio Castillo would make it a two-point game once again.
The Bombers defence forced a quick two-and-out on Saskatchewan to get the ball back, declining a point to take the field position on their next drive.
Collaros and Schoen would connect for a crucial first down as Schoen tallied another 24 yards to get the Bombers to the Riders seven-yard line, and an unnecessary roughness foul on the Riders’ defence gave the Bombers a chance to get their first lead of the game.
Oliveira would punch the ball in on a two-yard rush on first-and-goal and the Bombers’ nine-play, 71-yard drive gave them a four-point lead with just over four minutes to play.
Both teams would have unsuccessful drives that led to the Riders taking the field once more with less than two minutes to play, gaining a first down at the 51-yard line with 1:41 to play needing a field goal to send the game to overtime.
With 1:01 on the clock, Dolegala dumped the ball off to Jamal Morrow for 24 yards to the Winnipeg 15-yard line, but ultimately Lauther would be relied on once again to tie the game at 24-all and force overtime.
The Riders kicked off the overtime period with two strong throws from Dolegala, first to Samuel Emilus for 13 yards and then to Morrow for 21 yards, which set up another Pipkin touchdown and a successful two-point conversion gave them the eight-point lead.
Winnipeg wasted no time responding as Collaros was as accurate as he could be to find Lawler down the sideline and into the end zone for 35 yards and a score. But the Riders denied the Bombers’ two-point conversion attempt to solidify their win and grab their second win in a row.
Winnipeg and Saskatchewan will face off once again in Week 14, this time at IG Field at 4:00 p.m. EDT on Saturday, Sept. 9.