BanjoBowl12-2

Players will tell you a loss is a loss regardless if it’s by 52 points or one point. The Winnipeg Blue Bombers have now experienced both emotional scenarios in the span of seven days. Sandro DeAngelis was good on a 40-yard field goal attempt into the wind on the final play of the game to lift the Saskatchewan Roughriders to a 25-24 victory over the Blue Bombers on Sunday afternoon in front of a sold-out crowd of 30,077 at Canad Inns Stadium in the 9th annual Banjo Bowl.

Try a 43-yard field goal or punt the ball inside the Roughriders 10-yard line? That was the decision that Winnipeg head coach Tim Burke had to make with the Blue Bombers protecting a one point lead late in the fourth quarter. Burke decided to have Mike Renaud punt the ball. That punt sailed nowhere near the sidelines and instead went for a 56-yard single. So with 28 seconds left and starting from their own 35-yard line Saskatchewan backup quarterback Drew Willy completed a 10-yard pass to Kory Sheets; a 20 yarder to Brooks Foster and then ran untouched for 13 yards setting up the winning field goal.

“I thought our defense was really playing well and I thought if we could pin them down inside the 10 then it would be virtually impossible for them to get it down the field,” was Burke’s answer to his decision to punt instead of trying for a field goal that if successful would have given his football team a four point lead with 28 seconds left. “Obviously we didn’t get the ball punted out of bounds so that killed us right off the bat and so now they’re starting at their own 35. We still had a chance defensively to do well but we gave up a really long pass on the second play of that series which we talked about - we can’t give them those type of passes. We had a guy screw up and do too much and not do his job and let them have that long pass. Then we let the quarterback scramble out at the end. That was the thing that hurt us all day.”

“In retrospect I should have kicked the field goal,” added Burke. “It was 42 yards with the wind. I should have just kicked it. I played it too conservative.”

Winnipeg kicker Justin Palardy was good on field goal attempts from 30, 22, 32, 19 & 21 yards. Demond Washington had the Blue Bombers lone major as he returned a Chris Milo punt 82-yards for a touchdown with 2:03 remaining in the first quarter.

Winnipeg quarterback Joey Elliott completed 19-of-33 passes for 241 yards. The Bombers recorded 310 yards of net offence but the glaring stat for the second game in a row - no touchdowns from the offensive side of the ball. “We just made a few mistakes in the red zone again but we also had some chances,” said Elliott. “We all made mistakes but I think we played a lot better game than last week and gave ourselves a chance to win.”

Saskatchewan starting quarterback Darian Durant left the game late in the first quarter with a hip flexor. He was replaced by Willy who threw a 33-yard touchdown pass to Kory Sheets. Sheets also had a two-yard touchdown run. Willy finished the game completing 17-of-24 passes for 188 yards with one touchdown and one interception.

Winnipeg is now 2-8 and in last place in the Canadian Football League’s East Division. The Blue Bombers next game is Friday against the Calgary Stampeders at McMahon Stadium.

photo's courtesy Merle Peters