Riders fall short in West Final to Bombers

Winnipeg Blue Bombers kicker Sergio Castillo (14) kicks a conversion against the Saskatchewan Roughriders during the first half of CFL Western Conference Final action in Winnipeg Saturday, November 9, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/John Woods

The Saskatchewan Roughriders extended their Grey Cup drought to 11 years after losing 38-22 to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the CFL’s Western Final on Saturday.

The Bombers advance to their fifth straight Grey Cup and will move on to face the Toronto Argonauts who defeated the Montreal Alouettes earlier in the day.

It was a dominant performance from Winnipeg from the start and Saskatchewan could not keep up.

The Bombers opened the scoring with a 31-yard touchdown pass to Kenny Lawler to go up 7-0 with 5:10 remaining in the first quarter.

Lawler continued to outplay the Saskatchewan defence with a massive 65-yard catch with just under three minutes to go and then turned the next play into another touchdown after a 24-yard catch from quarterback, Zach Collaros.

Saskatchewan struggled to get any offence rolling in the first quarter. Mario Alford started an important drive with a massive 35-yard run return to put the Riders on their own 52-yard line. But Saskatchewan had to settle for a field goal with a successful 40-yard attempt from Brett Lauther.

The Riders trailed 14-3 with 19 seconds to go in the first quarter. Saskatchewan had only 29 net yards in the first 15 minutes, compared to Winnipeg’s 186 and had only garnered two first downs so far.

However, the Riders grabbed some early momentum in the second quarter after defensive lineman Caleb Sanders blocked Winnipeg punter Jamieson Sheahan’s punt to give the Riders great field position. The team once again failed to find the back of the end zone, but Lauther added three more to the board with a 33-yard field goal to make it 14-6.

The Bombers answered back after a massive 48-yard run from quarterback, Terry Wilson, who escaped a short yardage situation. The next play, Winnipeg got their third touchdown of the night with a 13-yard pass to Nic Demski to 21-6 with 11:14 to go until halftime.

With a little over four minutes to go until halftime, the Riders had to make some moves to tighten the score in their final possession. A.J. Ouellete had a massive 26-yard run followed by a 12-yard catch from Kian Schaffer-Baker for back-to-back first downs.

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The team took their second offside penalty of the night and backed the riders up to the Winnipeg 46-yard line. The team then settled for a 44-yard field goal to make the score 21-9.

The Bombers answered back with a field goal of their own to close out the half and take a 24-9 lead with two quarters to go.

The Riders had 103 net yards in the first half while Winnipeg had garnered an impressive 335.

Saskatchewan had the ball to start the second half and got some momentum after a trick play from punter Adam Korsak who rushed for six yards in a third and three situation.

That continued into a successful touchdown drive with a one-yard rush from running back, A.J. Ouellette to cut the lead to 24-16 with 10:43 to go in the third quarter.

However, Kenny Lawler continued his dominance on offence scoring a 57-yard touchdown to mark his third of the night. The Bombers took back a significant 31-16 lead with 5:30 left in the third quarter.

That was the final scoring play of the quarter as the Riders had major work to do if they hoped to book a ticket to the Championship game. However, they only garnered one more touchdown from Samuel Emilus but as did the Bombers for a 38-22 final.