Roughriders season ends after 38-22 thumping by Blue Bombers

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The Saskatchewan Roughriders season came crashing to a halt on Saturday night.

In the CFL’s West final on Saturday, the Roughriders lost 38-22 to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers at Winnipeg’s Princess Auto Stadium, as the Bombers clinched their fifth straight Grey Cup appearance while denying the Riders their first trip to the championship since 2013.

Bombers quarterback Zach Collaros threw for 301 yards and four touchdowns with three of them to Kenny Lawler, who had a game-high 177 receiving yards. Bombers running back Brady Oliveira also had a big day with 119 rushing yards and a touchdown.

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On the other side, Riders quarterback Trevor Harris completed 25 of 44 passes for 283 yards and a touchdown with Kian Schaffer-Baker accounting for 162 of those yards on 12 catches. Running back A.J. Ouellette was limited to 51 yards on 10 carries while scoring a touchdown.

“Early, they jumped on us,” Riders head coach Corey Mace told CKRM postgame. “We had a couple of busts defensively.

“It got out of hand a little bit fast and we pulled close … and then we just couldn’t control it. We didn’t force any turnovers defensively. I thought special teams was unbelievable tonight. Offensively, we didn’t get (touchdowns) until a little bit late.

“But defensively, we didn’t really do our job tonight, man, so we didn’t really give ourselves a chance.”

The loss marks the end of the season for the Riders, who finished second place in the division with a 9-8-1 record despite a seven-game winless streak during the middle of the season. The Riders then beat the B.C. Lions in the Western semifinal last weekend before losing to the Bombers on Saturday.

“We didn’t play our game tonight,” said Mace. “And that’s unfortunate but I just shared how proud I am of these guys.

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“The things that they went through; the amount of injuries we went through, the losing streak. For them to continue to fight and love on each other and just believe in everything that we tried to instil in the first year is incredible.”

The Bombers, who have now won nine straight home games against Saskatchewan dating back to 2018, will now take on the Toronto Argonauts in the Grey Cup in Vancouver on Nov. 17 after the Argos beat the Montreal Alouettes 30-28 earlier on Saturday in the East final. It will be a rematch of the 2022 Grey Cup in Regina. Quarterback Nick Arbuckle will start in the championship game for the Argos after Chad Kelly left Saturday’s game with a broken leg.

As for Saturday’s West final, the Bombers scored early and often and didn’t let the Riders back into the game.

On the second drive of the game as Collaros found Lawler on a crossing route for a 31-yard touchdown strike to make it 7-0.

After a two-and-out by Saskatchewan, Collaros went back to Lawler for a 65-yard gain over defensive back Amari Henderson setting Winnipeg up in scoring position once again.

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And on the next play, Collaros and Lawler connected on a 24-yard touchdown pass to make it 14-0 Bombers.

Following a 36-yard return by Mario Alford and a 22-yard pass interference call on the Bombers, the Riders were looking to respond but Harris narrowly missed KeeSean Johnson in the end zone.

Saskatchewan came away with a field goal to make it 14-3 as Brett Lauther connected from 40 yards out.

In the second quarter, after Saskatchewan’s Caleb Sanders blocked a punt which was recovered by Adam Auclair at the Winnipeg 26-yard line, the Riders chipped away at the Winnipeg lead as Lauther connected from 33 yards to make it 14-6.

On Winnipeg’s next drive, short-yardage quarterback Terry Wilson broke free on a second-and-one and rumbled for 48 yards before Collaros hit Nic Demski for a 13-yard touchdown on the next play to make it 21-6 Bombers.

With just over four minutes left in the first half, Ouellette rumbled for a 26-yard gain before Harris connected with Schaffer-Baker for a first down.

But that’s as far as Saskatchewan would get as Lauther hit his third field goal of the half from 44 yards to make it 21-9.

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The Bombers added a field goal to make it 24-9 at halftime.

In the second half, after Adam Korsak secured a first down on a fake punt, Harris hit Schaffer-Baker for a 37-yard gain before Ouellette leaped into the end zone to make it 24-16.

However, the Bombers responded as Collaros found a wide-open Lawler for a 67-yard touchdown, his third of the game, to make it 31-16.

Down 15 points with just over 12 minutes left in the game, the Riders elected to go for it on third down, but an incomplete pass resulted in a turnover on downs at Saskatchewan’s own 24-yard line.

From there, Oliveira broke off a 21-yard run before plunging into the end zone on the next play to make it 38-16 for Winnipeg.

After Rolan Milligan Jr. secured a fumble by Winnipeg punt returner Lucky Whitehead, Harris connected with Schaffer-Baker for back-to-back first downs, but the drive ended as Harris couldn’t hit Johnson in the end zone on a third-down gamble.

In the final minute, the Riders added a touchdown in garbage time as Harris hit Samuel Emilus for a touchdown to make it 38-22, which concluded the scoring.

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