Not-so-great eight: Riders’ losing streak to Bombers continues

The Saskatchewan Roughriders are still trying to figure out how to take down the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

Saskatchewan’s regular-season and playoff losing streak to its CFL West Division rival increased to eight after the Bombers won 45-27 at Mosaic Stadium on Friday night.

Bombers quarterback Zach Collaros threw for 288 yards and two touchdowns in the win, with Dalton Schoen and Drew Wolitarsky hauling in the scoring passes.

“We definitely have to be better. (The offence) put up enough points for us to win the game,” said defensive back Rolan Milligan, who had five tackles and a pass knockdown in the loss. “We just have to be better.”

While the defence feels like it let the offence down, quarterback Trevor Harris said it was the offence that needed to do more to help out the defence.

“We lost. There are no moral victories, there is just the building of a house. You don’t want to miss any opportunities to learn and grow. It’s easy to sweep it under the rug when you win because you won and just look at the outcome,” said Harris, whose team opened the regular season with a 17-13 win over the Edmonton Elks last Sunday.

“Last week wasn’t good enough offensively, at all. Our defence straight up won the game for us and tonight we’ve got to come through for them.

“If (the Bombers) put up that many, we have to put up 50. That’s what team football is all about and there are going to be nights where we have to do that and tonight wasn’t good enough either.”

Riders head coach Craig Dickenson called it “a game of adversity.”

“I felt like we played well the first half. The second half, I think we ran out of juice a little bit,” Dickenson said. “That’s a championship-calibre team that just wears you down. They found a way to grind out the win.”

Harris, who was a game-time decision after being limited in practice all week with a hip injury, threw for 405 yards and three touchdowns —  all to national wide receiver Sam Emilus — in the loss.

The 37-year-old QB said on Tuesday this past week, he gave himself a five per cent chance of playing.

“I was struggling to get up off the couch and then I started doing treatments with my ARP machine and I did two treatments with that and I was significantly better,” Harris said. “I woke up (Thursday) and I told (Dickenson), ‘I’m good, man. You don’t need to list me as whatever, I’m going to play.’ ”

While Winnipeg’s offence was once again rolling, it was returner Janarion Grant who provided the most fireworks for Winnipeg.

Grant broke multiple tackles on a 92-yard punt return touchdown in the third quarter. A penalty flag was thrown on the play, but a challenge by Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea was successful and the flag was picked up.

“That (TD) was the back-breaker,” Dickenson said. “That broke our backs because we had him, and I think our guys stopped playing a bit too. That’s on us to coach that better, but when they see a flag out there and they know what that is, I think they instinctively slow down a little bit. We will have to coach that out of them.”

Saskatchewan Roughriders wide receiver Sam Emilus hauls in one of three touchdown passes against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers at Mosaic Stadium on June 16, 2023. (Saskatchewan Roughriders)

Emilus was a bright spot for the Riders’ offence, hauling in seven catches for 77 yards and three touchdowns.

“It’s a tough one. I felt like we had the game, but in the second half they took it from us,” Emilus said. “Next week, we are going to be ready.

“It felt good (to score). I have been waiting for that moment.”

But he would trade in the good offensive output for a win.

“I wish we could have had that W. It feels good to have a touchdown but at the end of the day, the outcome should have been a W,” Emilus said.

The Bombers also got rushing touchdowns from quarterback Dru Brown and Collaros. Kicker Sergio Castillo was good on his lone field-goal attempt and only missed one of his convert attempts. Castillo added a rouge on a kickoff as well.

Riders kicker Brett Lauther was 3-for-4 on his field-goal attempts.

The Riders (1-1) will try to put the loss behind them as they get ready for a game in Calgary (1-1) next Saturday against the Stampeders.

“We aren’t going to be undefeated. We have a locker room of guys that aren’t going to flinch and we are going to stick together,” Harris said. “That’s the genetic makeup of this team. When you have a first loss, you find out a lot about your team. You could hear a lot of motivation in the locker room — a lot of guys wanted to go up and get a workout in right now.

“I haven’t heard something like that since high school. To hear a grown man say that, we have a lot of people who care.”