Bombers earn Banjo Bowl win, season sweep after downing Riders 33-9

The Saskatchewan Roughriders couldn’t overcome injuries and ejections, falling 33-9 to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers on Saturday at IG Field during the Banjo Bowl.

“We came in a little banged up but so were they; that is no excuse,” head coach Craig Dickenson said following the loss. “To lose two guys to ejection and then lose another to injury on an already-beat-up team, it was hard. Would we beat them straight up? I don’t even know but I don’t think so — that’s just a good football team.

“We were on fumes there at the end and you could see it. We were tired and they took advantage of it.”

The second win in a row for the Bombers against the Riders means Winnipeg has swept the season series. The Bombers (5-1) now hold an advantage over the Riders (3-2) in the CFL’s West Division standings.

“They’re going to be tough to catch,” Dickenson said. “There’s still a lot of games to play so you never know, but they’re a good team and I don’t see them dropping a lot of games.”

Riders quarterback Cody Fajardo left the game in the third quarter after getting sacked by Willie Jefferson and hitting his head on the turf, forcing the pivot into concussion protocol.

After the game, Dickenson confirmed Fajardo suffered a minor concussion.

“We didn’t think (the injury) was too bad but you want to be very cautious about those things,” Dickenson said. “We will see. That’s one of those things you’ve just got to let it play out.”

Fajardo finished the game with 11 completions on 17 attempts for 169 yards and an interception.

Due to the injury, Isaac Harker was thrust into game action. He went on to complete 10 of 13 attempts for 89 yards.

“I felt like we were executing our plays and there was a lot of effort and maybe there was some mistakes, but I thought the offensive line played outstanding,” Harker said.

It was the first time Harker played in a game in the CFL since Nov. 2, 2019 — a 23-13 win over the Edmonton Football Team.

“I hadn’t been hit in a while but it’s fun. Football is really fun. I like being out there and slinging it around with the guys,” Harker said.

Safety Mike Edem also suffered an injury, further depleting the Riders’ secondary.

Bombers backup quarterback Sean McGuire once again found the end zone multiple times against the Riders. After scoring two touchdowns in Winnipeg’s 23-8 victory in the Labour Day Classic, McGuire had three TD runs on Saturday.

After McGuire’s second touchdown, tempers flared and a scuffle ensued. That led to Riders defensive lineman Garrett Marino and halfback AJ Hendy being ejected from the game in the second quarter.

“Guys are a little bit fired up and it’s always a bit testy down there. We felt like they were doing a little too much extra and you’ve got to stick up for your teammates when that happens and unfortunatelty we had some boys get ejected,” linebacker Micah Teitz.

Despite grabbing Riders defensive back Christian Campbell by the facemask and throwing him to the ground, Bombers running back Andrew Harris was not ejected.

“I didn’t get to see everything. I was in it, but I don’t know what to say about that. When there’s something like that, you expect people on both sides to be gone but when it’s only us, that’s a tough one,” Teitz said.

Winnipeg’s other touchdowns came on passes from quarterback Zach Collaros to Darvin Adams and Kenny Lawler for fourth-quarter touchdowns.

Collaros finished the game with 18 completions in 23 pass attempts for 278 yards and two touchdowns.

The Riders were once again held out of the end zone by the Bombers. Saskatchewan now has gone three straight games against Winnipeg without a touchdown.

Saskatchewan’s scoring came from kicker Brett Lauther, who was 3-for-5 on field-goal attempts.

Winnipeg kicker Marc Liegghio struggled in the game, missing his only field-goal attempt and going 2-for-4 on convert attempts.

The Riders once again saw themselves taking a lot of penalties in the game, being flagged 16 times for 143 yards.

Dickenson admitted the team needs to play smarter.

“You’re not going to find new players. That’s the one thing people say: ‘Well, you must want to just get rid of guys.’ But there’s nobody left — there’s literally nobody left on our roster right now,” Dickenson said. “You’ve got to make sure that the players you have understand the rules and understand situational football as best they can.

“It isn’t because of age. You’ve got (defensive tackle) Makana Henry jumping offside and he’s been playing for five years here and he knows here. You’ve got (linebacker) Godfrey Onyeka getting penalties all the time and he should know better too.

“Eventually you’d stop playing those guys and find answers but right now we’ve got to play who’s healthy and they’ve got to just get smarter.”

The Riders will have a short time to prepare for their next test. They host the East Division-leading Toronto Argonauts (3-2) on Friday.

“(We’ll) just keep hammering away and keep chipping away and it will break through eventually,” Harker said. “There’s so many little things that people get caught up in.

“It’s two straight losses to a rival but really if you want to get better and want to break through, you’ve got to find the little things you can fix yourself.”