Zach Collaros had his best smile on his face when he said wide receiver Kenny Lawler fit perfectly into the Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ offensive game plan.
“I write in the playbook every week: ‘allow Kenny to get going’. No matter how it is, you have to give him the ball,” the quarterback told reporters.
Collaros could say “mission accomplished” on Saturday. He threw four touchdown passes, including three to Lawler, and the Blue Bombers defeated the Saskatchewan Roughriders 38-22 in the West Final to advance to a fifth straight Gray Cup final.
The Blue Bombers will face the Toronto Argonauts, who defeated the Montreal Alouettes 30-28 earlier Saturday, in the 111th Gray Cup game on November 17 at BC Place in Vancouver.
Sitting alongside Collaros during the postgame press briefing, Lawler said he considered his four catches for 177 yards a “normal” performance and that the offensive unit was “focused on the goal” against the Roughriders.
“It’s been a crazy season,” Lawler said. I missed the first eight, nine games with a broken arm. I came back, shook off the rust and got back to work. »
The Blue Bombers, who also lost receiver Dalton Schoen and linebacker Adam Bighill to injuries this season, started the season 0-4, then 2-6 before winning eight straight games. They then lost one last game before winning their last meeting of the season to finish first in the Western Conference.
“People wrote us off, but we believed in us,” said running back Brady Oliveira, who reached the end zone with a three-yard effort and rushed for 119 yards on 20 carries.
Collaros also joined Nic Demski for a major, finishing the game with 19 completions on 26 attempts and 301 yards. Sergio Castillo made a three-yard field goal and added five conversions.
Roughriders quarterback Trevor Harris completed 25 of 44 passes for 283 yards without an interception. “They did a good job of making things difficult,” he conceded.
AJ Ouellette scored a one-yard major in the defeat. The running back made 10 rushing plays for 51 yards. Samuel Emilus scored a 19-yard touchdown with 23 seconds left in the fourth quarter, but the subsequent two-point conversion was missed.
Brett Lauther put the ball between the posts three times at distances of 31, 40 and 40 yards.
The Blue Bombers led 14-3 after the first quarter, 24-9 at halftime and 31-16 before the start of the final period.
The Blue Bombers scored on their second offensive drive of the game when Lawler completed a 31-yard play into the end zone. Lawler added a second major during the Bombers’ offensive unit’s next appearance on the field.
A long play during a sneak in the quarter allowed the local favorites to add points to the board. On a second down and a yard, quarterback Terry Wilson kept the ball, bypassed the scrum and ran 48 yards. A Roughriders penalty put the Blue Bombers at the seven-yard line, where Collaros found Demski for the touchdown.
The Blue Bombers thus became the fourth team to reach the Gray Cup game five years in a row. The Regina Roughriders (1928-32), Hamilton Tiger-Cats (1961-65) and Edmonton Eskimos (1977-82) also achieved this.
