Taylor Shire, Regina Leader-Post
The Saskatchewan Roughriders have won the Banjo Bowl for the first time since 2018.
After winning the Labour Day Classic last weekend in Regina, the Green and White swept the home-and-home series against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers with a 21-13 win on Saturday afternoon in Week 14 of the CFL season.
The Roughriders improved their record to a league-best 10-2 while the Bombers dropped to 6-6 in the West Division playoff race.
Roughriders quarterback Trevor Harris completed 18 of 31 passes for 239 yards with no touchdowns and one interception while Blue Bombers quarterback Zach Collaros completed 9 of 15 passes for 165 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions before being knocked out of the game in the third quarter after a hit by Riders’ linebacker C.J. Reavis.
While the Bombers took a 13-6 lead into halftime, backup quarterback Chris Streveler couldn’t generate any offensive points for Winnipeg in the second half, while the Riders were able to put up 15 points with nine of those coming on field goals by Brett Lauther, who went 5-for-5 on the night while missing one convert.
“Wins a win,” Lauther told CKRM after the game. “That’s all we care about, especially over here.
“That’s still a great football team in a really tough place to play. It wasn’t perfect by any means for me, but we found a way to win one, and that’s what we came to do.”
Down by eight, the Bombers were threatening late in the fourth quarter but Riders cornerback Tevaughn Campbell — who had a win-clinching interception last week on a two-point convert attempt — notched his fifth pick of the season with two minutes left before adding a league-leading sixth as time expired.
“We knew it was going to be a battle,” Campbell said on CKRM’s postgame show. “We came in here and we said, ‘Listen, this is what we came here for. This is what we knew was going to happen. We’ve got to change the narrative. We’ve got to change all that stuff in the past. We’ve got to change that and play for right now.’”
Riders running back A.J. Ouellette finished the game with 50 yards and a touchdown on 11 carries while Winnipeg’s Brady Oliveira racked up 83 yards on 20 carries. Joe Robustelli led all Roughriders receivers with three catches for 72 yards while Ontaria Wilson was Winnipeg’s leading receiver with 89 yards on five catches.
The Blue Bombers opened the scoring in the first quarter as Sergio Castillo kicked a 39-yard field goal after an interception by Harris to give Winnipeg a 3-0 lead.
Saskatchewan then tied it 3-3 early in the second quarter as Lauther made a 20-yard field goal after a 10-play, 48-yard drive by the Riders.
On Winnipeg’s next drive, the Bombers took a 10-3 lead as Collaros hit Nic Demski for a 23-yard gain before connecting with Wilson for a 24-yard touchdown pass.
With three minutes left in the half, following a 45-yard gain by Demski, the Bombers added another field goal to take a 13-3 lead.
In the final minute of the half, Riders defensive back Marcus Sayles intercepted Collaros and Saskatchewan’s offence quickly got into scoring position as Harris hit Tommy Nield for a 34-yard gain.
Lauther made a 35-yard field goal with time expiring as Winnipeg took a 13-6 lead into the half.
In the third quarter, after an interception and 33-yard return by Saskatchewan’s DaMarcus Fields, Harris picked up a first down with his legs before letting Ouellette plunge into the end zone from five yards out.
Lauther missed the extra point as Winnipeg remained on top 13-12.
On Winnipeg’s next drive, Saskatchewan sent a seven-man blitz and Reavis laid a thunderous hit on Collaros, who fumbled the ball and remained on the turf for a brief period before jogging to the locker room for the remainder of the game.
Saskatchewan’s Mike Rose recovered the loose ball, but the Bombers successfully challenged for roughing the passer as they determined Reavis hit Collaros high.
With a fresh set of downs, Streveler entered the game at quarterback for the Bombers, who went on to miss a 51-yard field goal on the drive.
Early in the third quarter, the Roughriders took their first lead of the game as Lauther made a 41-yard field goal to make it 15-13.
The Bombers attempted to take the lead but Castillo missed his second field goal of the game from 48 yards. Saskatchewan’s Mario Alford ran it out of the end zone but spun back and was tackled on the one-yard line.
On the next play, Harris got the Riders out of trouble as he hit Robustelli for a 48-yard gain before Saskatchewan gained another 29 yards on a pass interference call moments later.
The drive ended with a 33-yard field goal by Lauther to put the Riders up 18-13 with six minutes left.
As the Bombers were looking to respond, Streveler was intercepted by Tevaughn Campbell with 2:26 left.
On the ensuing drive, the Riders picked up first down on a pass interference call before third-string quarterback Tommy Stevens came into the game and picked up a first down of his own along the ground to eat away at the clock.
Harris then picked up a first down through the air to Dohnte Meyers before Lauther made his fifth field goal of the day to go up 21-13 with 11 seconds left.
Down by eight, the Bombers attempted a hail mary on the final play of the game but Campbell intercepted Streveler for a second time to secure the win.
“We knew it was going to be a lot of run,” Campbell said of the adjustments when Streveler came into the game. “We weren’t thinking much of the deep pass at all, but we definitely had to handle the quick game.”
While Saskatchewan has won the season series, the two teams will meet for a third time this season on Oct. 17.
“I think just full team effort,” Roughriders head coach Corey Mace told CKRM. “Defence stood up when they needed to.
“Offence, specifically at the end there to come out; we put ourselves in a situation (that) pinned us on the one. Hell of a play called by (offensive coordinator Marc) Mueller to go up top (on the Roubustelli catch).
“Even how we finished with Tommy Stevens going up in there and then ultimately, Brett got us to eight(-point lead) so I thought it was a full team effort.
“Just proud of the guys, man. Tough place to play.”
Next Saturday, the Roughriders — who are 10-2 for the third time in franchise history with 1967 and 1970 being the others — will host the Montreal Alouettes, who lost 26-9 to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats earlier on Saturday.
tshire@postmedia.com
