Late interception seals Bombers’ 20-18 victory over Riders in Labour Day Classic

An interception with 2:18 left in regulation time helped the Winnipeg Blue Bombers down the Saskatchewan Roughriders 20-18 in Sunday’s Labour Day Classic at Mosaic Stadium.

The Riders were driving and got to the Winnipeg 26-yard line, but the Winnipeg pass rush forced Cody Fajardo to hurry a pass attempt. The ball went off the right hand of running back Frankie Hickson and into the arms of Nick Hallett for the interception at the Winnipeg 14-yard line.

The Bombers won their second straight Labour Day Classic in front of 33,350 fans.

“Same story, different day,” Fajardo said. “(It’s) just sickening. We have a great final drive at the end there and a tipped pick seals it for them. It’s just depressing.”

“It’s super-frustrating. You go out there and feel like you execute and make all the plays you need to make. It’s bonehead penalties that pretty much costs us in the end,” added wide receiver Shaq Evans, who had five catches for 88 yards in his first game since suffering an ankle injury in Week 3. “We gave them the game.”

Penalties once again proved to be an issue for the Craig Dickenson-coached Saskatchewan side. The team committed 12 penalties for 99 yards compared to eight penalties for just 40 yards against Winnipeg.

“(Penalties) probably cost us the game. They came at the worst times. We got big gains and a holding. We got a big gain and it’s offensive (pass interference). We did a good job in (kick) coverage and we get a no-yards,” Dickenson said.

“You can’t pick and choose. You’ve got to limit the penalties as best you can because they always come at the worst possible times and they did tonight.

“We will do our best to address it. We are who we are right now. We’ve got to clean up our play — each individual does — and hopefully that locker room takes ownership of the stuff after the whistle because we’ve talked until we’re blue in the face right now.”

One of the penalties the Riders took was an objectionable conduct called on the bench, nullifying an eight-yard gain in Winnipeg territory. The drive ultimately ended with a punt.

Dickenson said slotback Duke Williams, who was out with an ankle injury, was the one who got the penalty.

“Moving forward, there will be no players on the bench area that aren’t either playing or thoroughly involved with coaching because that was very disappointing and that hurt us bad,” Dickenson said. “It was a stupid penalty. I think Duke feels bad about it, as he should, and hopefully he has expressed that to his teammates.”

Fajardo said while he didn’t know who took the bench penalty, it was uncalled for.

“It’s just unfortunate when it’s a penalty from someone not on the field. You get the holding calls or just the penalties that go in the game, but when it’s an objectionable conduct away from the play, those sting a little bit more,” Fajardo said.

While the loss drops the Riders to 6-6 and the Bombers improve to 11-1 and have a playoff berth clinched, it was a competitive game throughout.

The Riders executed a 67-yard touchdown drive to open the game — the first time this season the team had scored a touchdown on its first drive.

Saskatchewan built up a 14-0 lead before the Bombers scored their first points of the game on a 50-yard touchdown pass from Zach Collaros to Nic Demski.

Winnipeg fought back and the teams went into halftime tied at 17.

Neither offence could find the end zone in the second half with the defences shining. While the Riders got a single point after a Kaare Vedvik punt rolled into the end zone, it would be a Winnipeg kicker who would come up with the winning points.

Marc Liegghio provided the deciding points, with his 55-yard field goal erasing Saskatchewan’s 18-17 lead with 3:20 left in the fourth quarter.

Fajardo completed 23 of 31 pass attempts for 292 yards and the interception. He also had a one-yard touchdown run.

Hickson had 85 yards on 15 carries. Despite averaging about 5.6 yards per carry, Hickson only had five of his carries in the second half of the game.

Collaros finished with 214 yards passing and two touchdowns — one to Dalton Schoen and one to Demski.

The Riders have now lost five straight games to the Bombers, including two losses to Winnipeg in back-to-back West Division finals.

“It’s always close to the end and it seems we’re always on the wrong side of it,” Fajardo said.

Now the Riders will try to win the rematch in Winnipeg dubbed the Banjo Bowl. The last time the Riders won the second half of the back-to-back meetings was in 2018 with a 32-27 win.

“We just need to stick to the script. I feel like we played well other than the penalties. It’s going to be tough – it’s always tough playing in Winnipeg,” Evans said. “It’s not like we played horribly. We just have to get rid of the penalties and we will be fine.

“I feel like (Sunday) was indicative of our record. We’re right there but we just seem to always make the wrong play at the wrong time and that’s why we’re .500.”