REGINA — Zach Collaros was absolutely livid after the Winnipeg Blue Bombers overtime loss to the Saskatchewan Roughriders in the annual Labour Day Classic Sunday.
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Collaros, Bombers furious over head butt and their own performance against Riders in Labour Day Classic loss
“It happens all the time.”
The Bombers fell behind 10-0 early, fought their way back to take the lead late, allowed the Riders to score four points in the final few minutes to tie the game, and then lost in overtime.
The Riders got a touchdown plunge from backup quarterback Antonio Pipkin in overtime and a two-point convert from Shawn Bane to go up 32-24.
The Bombers had a chance to match, but after Collaros hit Kenny Lawler with a 35-yard touchdown strike, the Bombers failed to get the two-point convert and lost in overtime for the second time this season.
“We have to execute on the goal-line,” said Collaros, who completed just 13 of 26 pass attempts, for 279 yards and two touchdowns, and threw a first-quarter interception.
“Turn the ball over early, give them three points, lose by (two).”
While the Robertson hit was clearly the thing that had Collaros closest to the boiling point, he also lamented going 4-for-9 for 102 yards in first half, with all but two yards coming on one drive.
“Not good enough,” he said. “We didn’t execute. What did we complete? Three passes in the first half? It was terrible.
Collaros had to sit out three plays after taking the hit from Robertson earlier in the fourth quarter, but the Bombers scored a touchdown anyway, as running back Brady Oliveira crossed the goal-line for the second time in the game, giving Winnipeg its first lead, 24-20 with 4:05 left.
With his history of concussions, Collaros couldn’t believe the officials failed to even throw a flag, originally, at Robertson, instead needing the command centre to get the call right.
Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea was equally incredulous.
“Ridiculous,” said O’Shea, whose team will host the Riders next Saturday in the Banjo Bowl at IG Field.
“I’m not sure why there’s not a flag on the field and it has to go to the command centre. I do not understand that. I hear it too many times that they didn’t see it. I’m not sure what the standard is any more and I’m on the rules committee. I have no clue.
Collaros lost for the first time in seven Labour Day appearances (with Hamilton, Saskatchewan and Winnipeg) and the Bombers fell to 9-3 on the season, failing to clinch a playoff spot in the West Division. The Riders improved to 6-5 behind a strong performance from one-time third-string quarterback Jake Dolegala, and are starting to look very much like a playoff team.
The Riders, jubilant in their locker room after the game, didn’t exactly defend Robertson’s actions, but said they don’t expect him to be suspended.
Many people on the Winnipeg side of things would disagree.
“Suspended?” Robertson said. “Whatever, I ain’t thinking about that.”
“I didn’t see it, so I can’t comment, but I’m disappointed that we got the penalty after we stopped them on second down. That was an emotional game, I thought we lost our composure a couple times, I lost mine a little bit as well. The one that Pete got, from what I was told upstairs, he earned that one.”
The Bombers very nearly pulled out the win despite playing from behind for most of the game.
Collaros managed to put together only one good drive in the first half, going 100 yards in three plays, hitting Dalton Schoen, Nic Demski and Drew Wolitarsky with long passes to get into the end zone.
It was 13-7 for the Riders at the half and they upped their lead to 16-7 before the Bombers started to come back.
With Winnipeg up by four and under four minutes to play, kick returner Jamal Parker let Adam Korsak’s 65-yard punt go into the end zone and gave up a single that proved important, given that the Riders then needed only a field goal to tie the game, and they got it.
“I would absolutely do that every time, get the field position,” O’Shea said. “You start on the 40. If you run that out, you’re putting your offence backed up, you punt and they’re in instant field position. I think I’d do that again and again.”
O’Shea also had Parker concede a single point earlier in the fourth quarter, even though the Riders were called for no yards. O’Shea declined the penalty in order to get the ball on the 40, but could have accepted the penalty and been on the 30.
Receiver Nic Demski had a big day for the Bombers, with five catches for 118 yards, but like the rest of his teammates, he was in no mood look at positives after such a heart-wrenching loss.
“They made more plays than us and that’s what it comes down to,” Demski said. “We made too many mistakes early on and it’s hard to play catch-up in a high-end environment like this, against a good team, good defence, good offence. They came to play in all three phases and we were playing catch-up all game. They were executing and I feel like we weren’t.
Oliveira, the CFL’s rushing leader, ran 17 times for 88 yards and had the two scores, continuing his outstanding season.
“It’s frustrating man. I hate losing. I frickin hate losing.”
Dolegala was excellent, completing 22 passes for 326 yards and no touchdowns, nor interceptions. The Riders, who suffered injuries to starting quarterback Trevor Harris and backup Mason Fine this season, seem to have found a good one in Dolegala, who has led them to back-to-back wins over the 8-4 B.C. Lions and the 9-3 Bombers.
“I think it was one hell of a game for the fans, not for the Blue Bombers,” O’Shea said. “We’re not happy with that and nobody will be. But the Riders played well and certainly they made one more play than we did.”
The two teams will meet again next Saturday and there could be plenty of bad blood. There were numerous misconduct penalties for unnecessary roughness on both sides and no one is going to forget the Robertson head butt any time soon.
It remains to be seen if he’ll even be allowed to play on Saturday, but the Bombers are already preaching to not lose focus in the rematch.
“We’re not going to put a frickin hit marker on him,” Oliveira said. “In that moment, the refs need to make a way better call. It was blatant, right in front of my face.
“You play clean between the whistles, we take pride in playing physical between the whistles for an entire 60 minutes. After the whistle, it’s dirty, head-butting our quarterback, blatantly, in the face.
“I’m frustrated right now but we can’t let that affect our focus and preparation.”
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GUADALAJARA, Mexico – Canada’s Marina Stakusic fell 6-4, 6-3 to Poland’s Magdalena Frech in the quarterfinals of the Guadalajara Open tennis tournament on Friday.
The 19-year-old from Mississauga, Ont., won 61 per cent of her first-serve points and broke on just one of her six opportunities.
Stakusic had upset top-seeded Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (0) on Thursday night to advance.
In the opening round, Stakusic defeated Slovakia’s Anna Karolína Schmiedlová 6-2, 6-4 on Tuesday.
The fifth-seeded Frech won 62 per cent of her first-serve points and converted on three of her nine break point opportunities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
TORONTO – Alejandro Kirk’s long single with the bases loaded provided the Toronto Blue Jays with a walk-off 4-3 win in the 11th inning of their series opener against the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday.
With the Cardinals outfield in, Kirk drove a shot off the base of the left-field wall to give the Blue Jays (70-78) their fourth win in 11 outings and halt the Cardinals’ (74-73) two-game win streak before 30,380 at Rogers Centre.
Kirk enjoyed a two-hit, two-RBI outing.
Erik Swanson (2-2) pitched a perfect 11th inning for the win, while Cardinals reliever Ryan Fernandez (1-5) took the loss.
Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman enjoyed a seven-inning, 104-pitch outing. He surrendered his two runs on nine hits and two walks and fanned only two Cardinals.
He gave way to reliever Genesis Cabrera, who gave up a one-out homer to Thomas Saggese, his first in 2024, that tied the game in the eighth.
The Cardinals started swiftly with four straight singles to open the game. But they exited the first inning with only two runs on an RBI single to centre from Nolan Arendao and a fielder’s choice from Saggese.
Gausman required 28 pitches to escape the first inning but settled down to allow his teammates to snatch the lead in the fourth.
He also deftly pitched out of threats from the visitors in the fifth, sixth and seventh thanks to some solid defence, including Will Wagner’s diving stop, which led to a double play to end the fifth inning.
George Springer led off with a walk and stole second base. He advanced to third on Nathan Lukes’s single and scored when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. knocked in his 95th run with a double off the left-field wall.
Lukes scored on a sacrifice fly to left field from Spencer Horwitz. Guerrero touched home on Kirk’s two-out single to right.
In the ninth, Guerrero made a critical diving catch on an Arenado grounder to throw out the Cardinals’ infielder, with reliever Tommy Nance covering first. The defensive gem ended the inning with a runner on second base.
St. Louis starter Erick Fedde faced the minimum night batters in the first three innings thanks to a pair of double plays. He lasted five innings, giving up three runs on six hits and a walk with three strikeouts.
ON DECK
Toronto ace Jose Berrios (15-9) will start the second of the three-game series on Saturday. He has a six-game win streak.
The Cardinals will counter with righty Kyle Gibson (8-6).
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
CALGARY – Mired in their first four-game losing skid in 20 years, the Calgary Stampeders are going back to Jake Maier at quarterback on Saturday after he was benched for a game.
It won’t be an easy assignment.
Visiting McMahon Stadium are the Eastern Conference-leading Montreal Alouettes (10-2) who own the CFL’s best record. The Stampeders (4-8) have fallen to last in the Western Conference.
“Six games is plenty of time, but also it is just six games,” said Maier. “We’ve got to be able to get on the right track.”
Calgary is in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time since 2004.
“I do still believe in this team,” said Stampeders’ head coach and general manager Dave Dickenson. “I want to see improvement, though. I want to see guys on a weekly basis elevating their game, and we haven’t been doing that.”
Maier is one of the guys under the microscope. Two weeks ago, the second-year starter threw four interceptions in a 35-20 home loss to the Edmonton Elks.
After his replacement, rookie Logan Bonner, threw five picks in last week’s 37-16 loss to the Elks in Edmonton, the football is back in Maier’s hands.
“Any time you fail or something doesn’t go your way in life, does it stink in the moment? Yeah. But then the days go on and you learn things about yourself and you learn how to prepare a little bit better,” said Maier. “It makes you mentally tougher.”
Dickenson wants to see his quarterback making better decisions with the football.
“Things are going to happen, interceptions will happen, but try to take calculated risks, rather than just putting the ball up there and hoping that we catch it,” said Dickenson.
A former quarterback himself, he knows the importance of that vital position.
“You cannot win without good quarterback play,” Dickenson said. “You’ve got to be able to make some plays — off-schedule plays, move-around plays, plays that break down, plays that aren’t designed perfectly, but somehow you found the right guy, and then those big throws where you’re taking that hit.”
But it’s going to take a team effort, and that includes the club’s receiving corp.
“We always have to band together because we need everything to go right for our receivers to get the ball,” said Nik Lewis, the Stampeders’ receivers coach. “The running back has to pick up the blitz, the o-line has to block, the quarterback has to make the right reads, and then give us a catchable ball.”
Lewis brings a unique perspective to this season’s frustrations as he was a 22-year-old rookie in Calgary in 2004 when the Stamps went 4-14 under coach Matt Dunigan. They turned it around the next season and haven’t missed the playoffs since.”
“Thinking back and just looking at it, there’s just got to be an ultimate belief that you can get it done. Look at Montreal, they were 6-7 last year and they’ve gone 18-2 since then,” said Lewis.
Montreal is also looking to rebound from a 37-23 loss to the B.C. Lions last week. But for head coach Jason Maas, he says his team’s mindset doesn’t change, regardless of what happened the previous week.
“Last year when we went through a four-game losing streak, you couldn’t tell if we were on a four-game winning streak or a four-game losing streak by the way the guys were in the building, the way we prepared, the type of work ethic we have,” said Maas. “All our standards are set, so that’s all we focus on.”
While they may have already clinched a playoff spot, Alouettes’ quarterback Cody Fajardo says this closing stretch remains critical because they want to finish the season strong, just like last year when they won their final five regular-season games before ultimately winning the Grey Cup.
“It doesn’t matter about what you do at the beginning of the year,” said Fajardo. “All that matters is how you end the year and how well you’re playing going into the playoffs so that’s what these games are about.”
The Alouettes’ are kicking off a three-game road stretch, one Fajardo looks forward to.
“You understand what kind of team you have when you play on the road because it’s us versus the world mentality and you can feel everybody against you,” said Fajardo. “Plus, I always tend to find more joy in silencing thousands of people than bringing thousands of people to their feet.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
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