The Canadian Press
WINNIPEG — The Winnipeg Blue Bombers swept the season series over the Calgary Stampeders with a 31-29 comeback win to open Week 12 on Thursday night.
Zach Collaros led the Bombers in their win over the West Division rivals, completing 19 of his 26 passing attempts for 296 yards and two touchdowns. However, Collaros also threw two uncharacteristic interceptions in the game, that forced Winnipeg to fight through some extra adversity in order to earn the win.
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In a post game interview with TSN the Bombers’ veteran signal-caller was the first to admit that the interceptions thrown put his team in a bad spot, but gave full credit to the Winnipeg defence and the rest of his teammates for lifting him up when he needed it most.
“Definitely feel that way, you’re right about that,” said Collaros. “I put us in bad spots, everybody picked me up. Our defence shutting them down and keeping them out of the end zone was huge, special teams all night was a factor, it’s a big team win.”
The Bombers offence relied upon the sure-handed consistency of receiver Nic Demski who caught eight of his nine targets for 117 yards and a touchdown, while running back Greg McCrae scored his first CFL touchdown on a 41-yard reception.
Backup quarterback Dakota Prukop also contirbuted to the Winnipeg scoring with a passing touchdown and a late game quarterback sneak on the goal line to help give his team the lead late in the fourth.
Collaros was quick to note the contributions from multiple areas of the offence, but maintained that the play of the offensive lineman was paramount in the team’s success.
“Yeah, we had guys stepping up everywhere,” said Collaros. “The whole crew, our guys are very detailed up front they do a great job and I’m sure Brady Oliveira, Johnny Augustine, and everybody else getting the ball would say they same, they protected all night long, so it was awesome.”
When asked about the added important of getting a bounce-back win following their Week 10 loss to the Montreal Alouettes, the Bombers’ pivot said the most important thing was to win at home, but a win after a loss certainly lifts the team’s spirits.
“I just think it’s important to win at home,” said Collaros. “But going into the bye week after a loss, everybody was down and it feels great to win again.”
Looking ahead to Week 13, the Blue Bombers will be matching up against the Saskatchewan Roughriders in Regina on Labour Day for the first of three meetings between the two West Division rivals.
