Riders can’t keep up with Bombers, go winless in September

Just as the Saskatchewan Roughriders looked like they were going to keep things close, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers only needed four plays to put any hopes of a comeback to rest.

The Bombers continue to be the hurdle too tall for the Riders to overcome, with Winnipeg handing Saskatchewan a 31-13 loss Friday. The Riders have now lost to the Bombers seven straight times, including back-to-back CFL West Division finals.

“Obviously we needed the win tonight just to gain our confidence to keep moving forward,” receiver Kian Schaffer-Baker said after the game at IG Field. “Things aren’t over. You can’t control every outcome in life. All we can control is how we respond in these situations.”

Saskatchewan appeared to be on the verge of finally besting its divisional foe, dominating the third quarter. The Bombers didn’t record a first down and had only eight net yards on offence. A 14-yard Brett Lauther field goal had the Riders within four points at the time with the score sitting at 17-13.

But then back-to-back two-play drives were capped off with Winnipeg touchdowns — a 42-yard pass from Zach Collaros to Nic Demski for his second touchdown of the game and then a 64-yarder from Collaros to Dalton Schoen — and a woeful month of September came to an end for the Riders.

“I thought we played hard. I thought we did a great job,” Riders quarterback Cody Fajardo said. “I didn’t make plays when they had to be there and I dropped a snap, which I’ve never done in my career, and those are tough things to do against a team when we’re in the red zone.

“There’s a lot of big plays that switched the momentum. We’ve just got to put our nose to the grindstone and continue to work, work, work and fight through it.”

The Riders went 0-4 in September  — three losses to the Bombers and one to the Edmonton Elks — and have now lost eight of their past 10 games to sit at 6-9.

Saskatchewan Roughriders quarterback Cody Fajardo (7) gets off the ground after being tackled by the Winnipeg Blue Bombers during second-half CFL action in Winnipeg on Sept. 30, 2022. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/John Woods)

Fajardo finished the game with 26 completions on 38 pass attempts for 307 yards and an interception. He scored the team’s only touchdown on a seven-yard run.

With the recent struggles the team has had, Fajardo knows a lot of criticism and negative comments are coming its way.

“It’s been there the whole time I’ve been here. There are people who don’t like me and people that like me and that’s going to happen with any sport,” Fajardo said. “There’s a lot of people who are going to be calling for my head and there’s going to be a lot of people who support me.”

While the Riders lost, head coach Craig Dickenson praised the play of Fajardo in the game.

“He played outstanding. You’re not going to make every throw but I think that effort from him tonight is winning football and if we can get that consistently from him, along with everyone else, I think we’ve got a chance to be a pretty good team,” Dickenson said.

With the game out of reach, Mason Fine came in for Fajardo. Fine went 4-for-5 passing for 25 yards and an interception.

Collaros only needed 14 passes to throw for 296 yards and four touchdowns — two to Demski, one to Schoen, and one to Rasheed Bailey.

Lauther was good on both his field-goal attempts and his lone extra-point attempt. Bombers kicker Marc Liegghio made his only field-goal attempt and all four convert attempts.

Fajardo said running back Kienan LaFrance, who was the only running back dressed for the game, went down with an injury prior to the second half.

Frankie Hickson (wrist), Jamal Morrow (hand), and Shaun Wilson (groin) all missed the game due to injury. The team signed Shaq Cooper on Friday but it came after the deadline for teams to submit their rosters for the game.

“We had Schaffer-Baker playing running back and (fullback) James Tuck playing running back — two guys who never take reps at running back at all,” Fajardo said.

If the Calgary Stampeders defeat the Toronto Argonauts on Saturday, the only road to the Grey Cup for the Riders is through the East Division by way of the crossover.

In order to qualify for the crossover, the fourth-place team from one division needs to have more wins than the third-place team in the other division.

With a showdown against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats (4-10) next week, the Roughriders’ season may hang in the balance in that game.

“Hamilton is a win-or-go-home mentality for us,” Fajardo said. “This is a playoff game and that’s what I’m going to tell the guys: ‘If we lose this game, we will give us a hard chance to make it to the playoffs. We win the game, we kind of control our destiny a little bit.’ ”

For a Saskatchewan team that was hoping to come around to end the season and get into the playoffs, a more appropriate Green Day song can sum up the team’s current state: Wake Me Up When September Ends.