The Toronto Argonauts secured their first home win of the season by beating the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, 31-17, behind a monster night from Damonte Coxie on Saturday.
Coxie, the Boatmen’s leading receiver this year, finished with 145 yards on six catches with a touchdown, helping the Argos improve to 2-5. Winnipeg dropped its third game in a row and sits at 3-3.
The wideout has been enjoying his recent successful run.
“It’s been great,” Coxie said, post-game. “We come to work every day at practice, try to build and stack every day.”
Argos quarterback Nick Arbuckle, who also had a strong performance, going 22-for-31 for 316 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions, sang the praises of his star wideout.
“(Coxie) is out of this world,” Arbuckle said. “It’s like he’s an alien out there. He has more than two legs. Whenever he gets tackled, knocked, wrapped and twisted around, somehow he still stays on his feet.”
On the other side, Winnipeg signal-caller Zach Collaros had five completions on 10 attempts with zero touchdowns and two interceptions before he left at the half with an undisclosed injury.
His replacement, Chris Streveler, was solid, mustering 148 yards on 11 completions and a touchdown.
The Argos came out buzzing with an immediate trick play. On their first offensive play, Arbuckle flipped the ball to receiver Janarion Grant, who threw a bomb to Coxie for a 41-yard gain.
“Well, if it wasn’t raining, we probably would’ve scored down there,” head coach Ryan Dinwiddie joked post-game.
Toronto punched it in two plays later, as Coxie nabbed a 33-yard reception in the end zone to put the Argos up 6-0.
Winnipeg responded with an eight-play, 48-yard drive, leaning heavily on running back Brady Oliveira before Sergio Castillo hit a 39-yard field goal to cut the Argos’ lead in half.
The ensuing Argos drive saw Winnipeg’s first mistake of the night. After the Bombers forced a two-and-out, safety Derek Slywka punched the ball out of returner Trey Vaval’s hands, and Brandon Calver scooped it to regain possession.
Lirim Hajrullahu then booted the first of his six field goals on the night to end the series, and extended Toronto’s lead to nine.
Sloppy play in the rain continued in the quarter, this time for the Double Blue. Running back Khalan Laborn lost the ball, and Winnipeg lineman James Vaughters took it to the end zone for a defensive touchdown, to put the Bombers up 10-9.
In the next frame, the Boatmen found the end zone early with Arbuckle hitting wideout DaVaris Daniels for an 18-yard touchdown and regained the lead at 16-10.
After the Argos tacked on another three points, Collaros threw two interceptions on consecutive drives. The first went straight into the hands of Toronto linebacker Cameron Judge, and the next was a deflected pass on the following series that landed with Boatmen defensive back Benjie Franklin.
Toronto capitalized on the turnovers, ending the quarter with two field goals off the picks, the latter after a meticulous 15-play, 92-yard drive, and sent the Argos into the locker room up 25-10.
XXX
The Boatmen picked up the second half right where they left off, going 61 yards with a mix of ground and air plays in 10 plays before they settled for a field goal to take a 28-10 lead.
After a relatively mundane rest of the third quarter, the Bombers pieced together a solid 11-play, 82-yard drive that ended with an 18-yard touchdown pass from Streveler to receiver Jerreth Sterns, which cut the Argos’ lead to 28-17 going into the fourth.
Argos began the fourth quarter hot, driving 56 yards to the Winnipeg 24-yard line before stalling and hitting another field goal and made it a 14-point game.
Winnipeg’s defence held the Argos in check in the final five minutes and gave their offence three chances. The Bombers couldn’t capitalize, turning it over on downs twice and fumbling on their final series of the evening.
The Boatmen finished with 438 yards of offence, with 141 of those coming after the catch, while Winnipeg netted 319 total yards.
“Offensively, we stayed on the field,” Dinwiddie said. “We moved the field, changed the field position, and got into a rhythm.”
Toronto also bested Winnipeg in the turnover battle, giving the ball away just once to the Bombers’ seven.
Up next: The Bombers won’t have to wait long for their shot at revenge, as a rematch between the teams comes in six days, this time with Winnipeg having home-field advantage.
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