It was the last season game at Canad Inns Stadium, but saying goodbye wasn’t the only reason Winnipeg is sad tonight. The Winnipeg Blue Bombers pulled closed but fell 27-22 to the Toronto Argonauts. With the win, the Argos move to 5-12 on the season, while the result leaves Winnipeg at 10-7.
Tonight’s game featured some excellent aspects of Winnipeg’s game, but something about Toronto turned them down for the second time in a row. As a couple examples, the combination of Justin Palardy and Jamie Boreham showed excellent kicking, and Chris Garrett established himself early and often as a very dependable option. With 20 carries for 159 yards, I just won’t enough have room to mention each time Garrett pulled off a fantastic run.
The game began very positively, with a sack from Bryant Turner on the very first play that forced Toronto to punt. When the Bombers took over on offence, they chose to settle for a field goal on third down at the five yard line, and the easy points gave them the first lead. The teams split up the time of possession very evenly in the first quarter, and battled back and forth with no other scoring.
In the second quarter, things became a series of extremely unfortunate events for the Blue and Gold. Less than four minutes in, Toronto quarterback Steven Jyles faked a handoff and tossed a touchdown pass over the defence to Chad Rempel. On the resulting kickoff, Winnipeg fumbled and gave possession right back to the Argos, which they used to get far enough to hit a field goal. Soon after, quarterback Buck Pierce tried a pass under pressure that was picked off by Byron Parker who ran it 50 yards for yet another score. With the score, Parker broke a CFL record for the most career interceptions for touchdowns.
It was then that Pierce was pulled because of an injury to his right leg, and replaced by backup Alex Brink. A little later, Toronto’s Chad Owens returned a kick 68 yards to set his team up on Winnipeg’s doorstep. After that, it was an easy dump pass and short run for another Argo major, completing the entire drive in only 1:17. In just eight minutes, Toronto piled on 24 points to annihilate Winnipeg’s early lead and put them in a big 21 point hole. The Bombers started digging with less than a minute to go, by way of Palardy hitting a field goal to end the half down 24-6.
The second half began much like the first, so much so that it was a little unsettling. The Bombers exploded out of the gate with incredible offence, on a drive that used everyone: Terrence Edwards, Greg Carr, Garrett, and a run by Brink. But when it came down to third down on the three yard line the Bombers once again had to settle for a field goal, which left fans in want after such a strong offensive effort.
On a later possession, the Bombers slowed things down and brought the ball up little by little, with plenty of sneaks by Brink in short yardage situations. This made it all the more shocking when suddenly a 45 yard bomb took to the air and found Carr amidst coverage, grabbing it for a touchdown that jolted Canad Inns Stadium back on its feet.
Although there was less than four minutes remaining in the third, Winnipeg wanted to grab a few more points on their way out of the quarter. For the second game in a row, help came from Jonathon Hefney, who got low to grab an interception and give the ball back to Brink. Brink quickly found a wide open Edwards for a 30 yard pass, and a couple runs from Garrett gave Palardy a chance to hit a 42 yard field goal.
Now just five points back heading into the fourth quarter, it was the combined defensive efforts of Ian Logan and Merrill Johnson that set up Winnipeg’s next points. On Toronto’s kick return, Logan forced a fumble that was recovered on the sideline by Johnson. Things looked questionable for a moment when Brink was sacked for a big loss on the next play, but he bounced back with a 12 yard run into field goal range. Well, sort of field goal range. The drive still left Palardy staring down another 42 yard attempt, this time into the wind. But a clutch kick found its way between the uprights, and brought the Bombers to just two points behind.
Then, things got a bit intense. When the Argos took their turn on offence, Jyles took to his feet and ran the ball. He was met by a hit from Johnny Sears with helmet on helmet contact that knocked Jyles out cold, incited outright pandemonium on the field, and led to the ejection of both Sears and Toronto’s Jason Pottinger.
Even after the commotion cleared up, there was still plenty of controversy to finish off the game. Two challenge flags were thrown in the next few minutes, three Winnipeg plays in a row were whistled down when referee communication appeared to break down, and the Bombers’ momentum slowed considerably. Toronto scored a field goal to go up 27-22 with a minute and a half left in the game, leaving the Bombers with not enough time to do anything to change it. So close to a comeback, but Winnipeg was left disappointed as Canad Inns Stadium’s closing fireworks erupted overhead.
