REGINA – The faces and names change, but the results rarely do for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the annual Labour Day Classic.

The Bombers dropped their third straight Sunday afternoon at Mosaic Stadium, falling 31-23 to the Saskatchewan Roughriders in the first of three meetings between the two Prairie rivals in the next six weeks, with the next game six days from now in Winnipeg in the annual Banjo Bowl.

The result drops the Bombers to 5-6, while the Riders improve to 6-4.

Oh, and there’s this: Winnipeg is now 1-13 in its last 14 visits to Regina on Labour Day weekend, the lone victory a win in 2016 on a last-second Justin Medlock field goal.

Critical now for this bunch – which has not lost three straight in a single season since the end of 2015 – is how it reacts to the maelstrom that is swirling around them.

Asked what is key in the days ahead, Bombers tailback Andrew Harris, who was sensational Sunday with 158 yards along the ground, offered this:

“It’s just coming together. No finger pointing… not that we do that, but you’ve just got to get tighter as a group, I think. I preached before the game that all three phases need to come together and play a great game. We didn’t do that today. We’ve just to come together as a team and fight for each other.”

Critical in the loss were the mistakes made by all three phases for the Bombers, who surrendered a punt-return touchdown by Kyran Moore, turned the ball over three times on offence and were out-scored 14-3 in the fourth quarter after taking a 20-17 lead into the final 15 minutes.

“That was a tough one… good team, tough environment… all the stuff we talked about before the game,” said Matt Nichols, who was 14 of 26 for 166 yards with one TD and two interceptions. “That’s a hard one to let slip away. For me personally, I feel like I’ve got to be better. We had the ball a couple of times down three late in the game and couldn’t get anything going. I’ve got to find a way to get us going. I’m obviously disappointed in myself. No one’s going to work harder than me this week, that’s for sure. I’m ready to get to work right now.”

The game started inauspiciously enough for the Bombers as Nichols had his second pass attempt – and just the club’s fourth offensive snap – intercepted by Matt Elam and returned 53 yards to the Winnipeg one-yard line.

After countering with the first of three field goals by Medlock and then a Nichols-to-Kenbrell Thompkins TD strike, the Bombers were then delivered another kick to the nether regions when Moore took a punt return 65 yards to paydirt. Again, the Bombers answered when Chris Streveler – in the game after a short-yardage conversion – found Darvin Adams for a TD.

And with the Bombers grinding out critical yards along the ground through Harris, the club led 17-14 at the intermission with everything trending upward.

But in the second half, and in particular the fourth quarter, the Bombers couldn’t answer where so often in 2016-17 they did.

Asked where the game went wrong, head coach Mike O’Shea was succinct.

“We haven’t given up a punt-return touchdown all year, we give up a punt-return touchdown,” he began. “They got a pick-six on the first drive… I think our guys handled adversity really well and battled really hard and then give up two touchdowns in the fourth quarter… that’s tough.

“They’re a good football team. They’ve got all three phases contributing. They scored on defence, special teams and offence once they got their offence going a little bit… Again, it’s one loss. We’ve got to find a way to correct it and play a full 60 minutes.”

The Bombers out-gained the Riders 358-332, but the Riders playmakers – including Ed Gainey, with a critical fourth-quarter possession and Zach Collaros, who hit Marcus Thigpen for a TD in the fourth quarter – all stepped up when it mattered most.

Asked where the loss leaves this team right now, O’Shea said:

“It leaves us at 5-6 with a game against the same opponent in six days. We’ll stick to the same process of making sure we correct the film. Trust me, everybody’s got a sour taste in their mouth. They’ll be hard on themselves and we’ll make sure we’re better next week.”

THE BIG STAT

14: Points surrendered by the Bombers in the fourth quarter, while managing only three themselves.

FYI

The Bombers two inactives were WR Weston Dressler and LB Maurice Leggett… Kenbrell Thompkins pulled in his first career CFL TD pass on a 31-yard toss from Nichols… RT Manase Foketi was suffered an apparent arm injury in the second half and did not return to the game. He was replaced on the field by Michael Couture, who lined up at guard with Patrick Neufeld then shifting outside to tackle.

NUMBERS GAME

105: Yards rushing for Andrew Harris in the first half, on just eight carries.

85: Yards rushing for Harris in the previous two games.

11.2: The average gain on first down for the Bombers in the first half, compared to Saskatchewan’s 2.8 yards.

10: Points off turnovers by the Riders

-2: The Bombers takeaway-giveway ratio after three mistakes – two interceptions by Nichols and a fumble by Kienan LaFrance.