Posted: July 10,2015 10:59PM
Updated: July 10,2015 11:48PM
CFL.ca Staff
WINNIPEG -- Led by touchdowns on special teams and defence and four
Lirim Hajrullahu field goals, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers earned a
bounce-back 25-23 victory over the Montreal Alouettes on Friday night in
Winnipeg.
Johnny Adams picked off a Rakeem Cato pass and
returned it for a touchdown in the second quarter while Teague Sherman
scored on a blocked punt in the dying seconds of the first half, helping
the Bombers rebound from a lopsided loss in their home opener one week
ago.
Cato played well in his second career start but couldn’t overcome a
pair of interceptions one week after a dazzling win in his first career
start against the defending Grey Cup Champion Calgary Stampeders. He
finished with 317 yards on 22-of-31 passing but couldn't find the end
zone after scoring three times in his debut.
Drew Willy also didn't find the end zone for Winnipeg after exiting
the game with an upper body injury last week in the Bombers'
home-opening loss to Hamilton, but he kept the Bomber offence moving and
threw for 251 yards on a solid 20-of-29 passing.
S.J. Green, meanwhile, finished with a career-high 180 yards on six
catches to lead all receivers in the game, but it wasn't enough to help
the Alouettes secure a second straight win. Alouettes running back
Tyrell Sutton, the league's leading rusher entering Week 2 action, had
the game's only two offensive touchdowns on 74 rushing yards.
The Bombers had Cato running around early in this game, bringing him
down for a pair of first-quarter sacks and pitching a shutout through
the game’s first 15 minutes. Hajrullahu opened the scoring with a
career-high 52-yard field goal, then closed out the first-quarter
scoring with a chip shot to give Winnipeg a 6-0 lead.
After a Boris Bede field goal for Montreal cut Winnipeg’s lead in
half, the Bombers couldn’t get anything going offensively against the
Alouettes’ stout defence, so they turned to their defence for the game’s
first big play.
With Cato looking to make something happen early in the second
quarter, his pass out to the left sideline was jumped by Bombers
defensive back Adams and Adams have nothing but green field in front of
him, returning the pick 40 yards for the game’s first score.
Down 12-3, the Alouettes needed an answer from their young starting
pivot and Cato quickly answered. A deep ball to Green behind the Bomber
secondary moved the Alouettes 51 yards deep into scoring territory. Then
on a second down play, Sutton took the handoff and broke outside to
just cross the pylon and score the Alouettes’ first touchdown.
The play was reviewed but upheld, capping off a 10-play, 80-yard drive to make it a 12-10 ballgame.
It appeared as though that score would hold up until the break, but a
critical error by a young quarterback opened the door for a clutch play
on special teams. On second down with about 20 seconds left, Cato had
the chance to wind the clock down but ran out of bounds on a scramble,
forcing Montreal to punt one last time.
As fate would have it,
Bede’s punt was blocked by Lin-J Shell and recovered by Sherman, who scooped up the loose ball and scored for the touchdown in the half’s dying seconds. That made it 19-10 Winnipeg entering halftime.
S.J. Green hit a new career high in receiver yards, but it wasn't enough to lead the Alouettes from behind.
» View Game Stats
The Bombers and Alouettes exchanged field goals in the third to make
it 22-13 through 45 minutes, but in the fourth Cato had the Montreal
offence on the move yet again. The 23-year-old connected with a wide
open Green over the middle and the veteran turned it up field for a gain
down to the Winnipeg 32.
After back-to-back completions to slippery running back Stefan Logan
to move the sticks, Cato took off for a first down on his own two legs
down inside the Winnipeg 10. Then the Alouettes went right back to their
money man in the red zone as Sutton capped off the drive with an
eight-yard touchdown run to make it a two-point ballgame early in the
fourth, 22-20.
A 33-yard field goal by the Bombers, Hajrullahu's fourth of the game,
added insurance for Winnipeg but it was later cancelled out by another
field goal by Bede.
With time winding down in the game, the Alouette defence rewarded Tom
Higgins' faith in the unit with a quick stop of Willy and the Bombers'
offence. Barely a minute remaining, the ball was in Cato's hands -- the
Alouettes down two points and needing a game-winning drive.
Shell the Block, Sherman the 6
But after being scrutinized for its performance the first two weeks
of the season, Winnipeg's defence rose to the occasion when it mattered
most. The Bombers forced two quick stops and then shut down Cato on
third down, preserving the Bombers' second win of the season and first
at home.
Chris Randle also had an interception for Winnipeg and added four
tackles while Kyler Elsworth, taking the place of injured linebacker
Bear Woods, had a game-high 11 tackles for Montreal. Nick Moore caught a
game-high seven passes for Winnipeg for 71 yards.
The Alouettes and Cato look to get back in the win column a week from
now vs. Hamilton on Thursday night, a key early-season East Division
battle. The Bombers, meanwhile, look to carry their momentum into
Calgary for a game against the Stampeders that could serve as an
early-season measuring stick next Saturday.
