{"id":112825,"date":"2025-09-01T22:23:15","date_gmt":"2025-09-01T22:23:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/112825\/"},"modified":"2025-09-01T22:23:15","modified_gmt":"2025-09-01T22:23:15","slug":"game-day-hq-the-labour-day-classic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/112825\/","title":{"rendered":"Game Day HQ | The Labour Day Classic"},"content":{"rendered":"

REGINA \u2014 They are a quarterback\u2019s security blanket \u2014 a safety net, so to speak. And they can be the difference between a QB getting lit up in the pocket or him wrapping himself in glory after a touchdown pass.<\/p>\n

And so, hell yeah, Zach Collaros is ecstatic to have both Dalton Schoen and Nic Demski back together again at the slotback positions for the first time in six weeks in today\u2019s Labour Day Classic against the Saskatchewan Roughriders.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Nic Demski at practice this week; photo by Cameron Bartlett<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s big, for sure,\u201d said Collaros Saturday afternoon at the club\u2019s media availability at Mosaic Stadium. \u201cYou certainly can do more when you\u2019re planning for a game \u2014 in game adjustments, middle of the play adjustments, all those things. They certainly bring a calmness to the huddle and just confidence for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schoen has been absent from the lineup since the club\u2019s 37-16 loss in Calgary back on July 3rd after missing six games. Demski, meanwhile, missed the second half of last week\u2019s win over Montreal and leads the club with 45 catches for 665 yards and six touchdowns.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love coming back here to play,\u201d said Demski, who began his career as a first-round draft pick of the Roughriders in 2015 and scored his first TD against the Blue Bombers on a punt return. \u201cI just know the environment is always going to be great here.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t say this is the stadium I scored my first touchdown in (that was Taylor Field), so I don\u2019t have any of those type of feelings. Played a number of games in this stadium and definitely some memories. It\u2019s always a fun time playing in the Labour Day Classic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schoen and Demski join a receiving corps that now has a variety of options along with other starters Keric Wheatfall, Kevens Clercius and Dillon Mitchell, reserve Canadians Joey Corcoran and Gavin Cobb and with a pair of veterans added to the practice roster last week in Cam Echols and Kyran Moore.<\/p>\n

A return to health and to his previous form for Schoen would be massive for the Blue Bombers offence. Over 34 games in 2022-23 he pulled in 141 passes for 2,663 yards and a whopping 26 touchdowns while twice being named a CFL All Star and honoured as the league\u2019s Most Outstanding Rookie in 2022.<\/p>\n

Since then, he\u2019s appeared in just seven games over the last two years.<\/p>\n

And his biggest fan might be the man barking out the plays in the huddle.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Dalton Schoen<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s his football IQ. He cares a lot,\u201d said Collaros of Schoen. \u201cHe cares about the game of football, not just our organization. He loves football and that\u2019s something that has really stood out from him since the day I\u2019ve met him. Through that he\u2019s able to process information extremely fast on the fly \u2014 kind of like a quarterback would have to given what the defence is showing.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, having a guy like him and Nic on each side is huge for a quarterback and allows you to do more things and, depending on what kind of concept it is, gives you more outs versus certain looks.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe brings a lot of intangibles. Not necessarily a rah-rah guy, but a guy who\u2019s going to be the first in the building every day and guys know he\u2019s putting the work in so he\u2019s an easy player to follow out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

ICYMI, here is our Game Preview from yesterday:<\/p>\n

Game Preview | Labour Day Classic \u2014 Wpg at Sask<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

And follow along here as we present a collection of notes\/quotes\/anecdotes to help get Blue Bombers fans up to speed for tonight\u2019s Labour Day Classic matchup in Regina in this week\u2019s GAME DAY HQ\u2026<\/p>\n

AND IN THIS CORNER\u2026<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Willie Jefferson has been here and done that on each side of the Blue Bombers-Roughriders rivalry as a member of both clubs in his hall of fame career.<\/p>\n

And, truthfully, he\u2019s learned to relish the role of playing the bad guy in enemy territory on a day like this.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love animosity. I love the conflict. I love the tension of games on the road like this,\u201d he told bluebombers.com earlier this week. \u201cThis is going to be a test for us for the next couple of games and then later on in the season.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a good guy to my guys, to my organization. I want to be that guy people feel comfortable in approaching. And then on away games, I could care less about the other team and so if somebody has to be the bad guy in those situations, I don\u2019t care if it\u2019s me. I love that stuff. I\u2019m showing up and I\u2019m going to give it my all and put my team on my back, especially on defence.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhatever it takes to put another \u2018W\u2019 in the win column.\u201d<\/p>\n

HARRASSING HARRIS<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Chew on these stats and try to make sense of them\u2026<\/p>\n

The passing totals for Trevor Harris in his three starts vs. Winnipeg last year:<\/p>\n

Game 1: 30-of-49 for 368 yards with three TDs and zero interceptions.<\/p>\n

Game 2: 21-of-33 for 287 yards with two TDs and two picks.<\/p>\n

Game 3 (Western Final): 25-of-44-283 with one TD and zero picks.<\/p>\n

And the Roughriders record in those three games? 0-3.<\/p>\n

Go figure.<\/p>\n

Harris is putting together another excellent season so far through 2025, so much so that he\u2019s a serious Most Outstanding Player contender.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s just so intelligent in his understanding of how defences are supposed to move,\u201d said Blue Bombers defensive coordinator Jordan Younger earlier this week. \u201cI guarantee he could coach some defences. He\u2019s been playing that long that he can say, \u2018Nah, you should be over there\u2026 you should be inside of that guy rather than outside of that guy.\u2019 That kind of awareness is what allows him to get rid of the ball so quickly. So, you\u2019ve got to be on point and because he gets rid of the ball so quickly the biggest challenge is not necessarily stopping them from catching the ball, it\u2019s making the tackles because you\u2019ve got to react.\u201d<\/p>\n

Younger said critical to any success the Blue Bombers might have against Harris will be to give the veteran pivot a variety of defensive looks, hoping he may then second guess what he is seeing.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just mixing up the looks as much as we can, keep him off balance, keep him guessing during the game, trying to make adjustments, switches in the zone, dropping into zone\u2026 that kind of thing so it\u2019s not always the same jersey number and just making him work every play,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey do a great job of studying their opponents and then game-planning those vertical shots. So, they anticipate the look they\u2019re going to get and then Trevor\u2019s accuracy is what allows those big plays to happen. That\u2019s why you\u2019ve got to mix up the looks so much and sometimes just do it different just for the sake of doing it different so that when they get that play where they\u2019re trying to get that shot it doesn\u2019t look like he thought it would.\u201d<\/p>\n

REDHA ALERT<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Further to the above, the Blue Bombers will be working to limit the effectiveness of Harris with another change in the secondary as dime back Redha Kramdi was moved to the one-game injured list.<\/p>\n

One of the toughest hombres in the CFL, Kramdi is also an excellent communicator and so his absence is a double-whammy. Michael Griffin II is listed as his replacement.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll say this about Redha: he\u2019s one of the smartest, one of the best football players I\u2019ve been around,\u201d said Collaros of Kramdi. \u201cThe guy just understands football inside and out and, specifically, our defence. It\u2019s getting guys lined up, getting the right calls in whether he\u2019s working with the boundary (side) or the field and how much confidence those guys have in him. So, any time a guy like that is not out there it\u2019ll make things more difficult. I hope I\u2019m not putting words in the mouth of the defence or anything but, again, he\u2019s a guy that is key to communication and understands the game at such a high level we\u2019ll make it tough. But we have a great coaching staff, a great coordinator in JY (Jordan Younger) and the guys around him, so they\u2019ll have a great plan.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut Redha\u2019s a stud, so missing him is tough.\u201d<\/p>\n

A HOMECOMING<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Nobody was sporting a wider grin this week than rookie defensive back Ethan Ball, a sixth-round draft pick of the club this year and a proud product of the Queen City.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a Regina guy it\u2019s the Grey Cup growing up and then Labour Day is just underneath that,\u201d Ball said earlier this week. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be a special weekend for me and my whole family. There will be 30-40 people supporting me wearing blue and probably a couple closeted Bomber fans wearing some green. There will be a lot of fans in the house.<\/p>\n

\u201cI went to countless of these games growing up. A lot of them I remember as a kid at old Taylor Field. I remember Nic Demski scoring his first career touchdown as a Saskatchewan Roughriders against the Bombers \u2014 a punt return touchdown. Those are the things you remember and how raucous the atmosphere is and how great the rivalry is with these back-to-back games including the Banjo Bowl. I\u2019m just excited to take it all in.\u201d<\/p>\n

A product of the Universities of North Dakota and Calgary, Ball has has already made an impact on special teams. And as a kid who grew up watching Roughrider games \u2014 his dad was also the radio voice of the team for a few years \u2014 running out of the tunnel on Labour Day Sunday will be a dream come to life.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I got drafted by the Bombers and hoping how things could possibly play out, I sure did think about how cool it might be to be on the other side for Labour Day,\u201d he said with a grin. \u201cIt worked out and I\u2019m here now. I\u2019m excited to be on the away sideline for a homecoming.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is such a great rivalry that\u2019s good for the league. I can\u2019t wait to be a part of it as a player now.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"REGINA \u2014 They are a quarterback\u2019s security blanket \u2014 a safety net, so to speak. And they can…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":112826,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-112825","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cfl","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-canadian-football-league","11":"tag-canadianfootballleague","12":"tag-cfl","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112825","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=112825"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112825\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/112826"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=112825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=112825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=112825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}