OTTAWA \u2014 The Winnipeg Blue Bombers didn\u2019t dominate Saturday afternoon, but Trey Vaval\u2019s 128-yard missed field goal return for a touchdown gave them the spark they needed in a 26-18 victory over the Ottawa Redblacks.<\/p>\n
\u201cI see people coming at me, I see this and that, but it\u2019s just like catch it, secure it, protect the ball, trust your blockers,\u201d said Vaval on his thought process on the key play. \u201cMy blockers did an amazing job, they always do, and then just look at the grass. Watch grass.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Redblacks (4-10) strung together a seven-play, 85-yard march capped by a nine-yard touchdown pass to Braelon Addison on the game’s first drive to take a 7-0 lead and appeared poised to make it a 10-point spread when Lewis Ward missed a 43-yard field goal attempt and Vaval took it all the way back.<\/p>\n
With Richie Leone out of town for his mother\u2019s funeral Noah Gettman took over the holding duties, but Ward, who has now missed eight on the season, took full responsibility.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe guys came in and did what they needed to do, and I just didn\u2019t execute on my end,\u201d said Ward. \u201cIt\u2019s just a bad day to have a bad day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ward also missed a 47-yard attempt, which Vaval returned for 71 yards in the third quarter, setting a CFL record for most return yards (199) on missed field goals.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn a game like today, those kicks were huge,\u201d added Ward. \u201cAnd they were definitely a contributing factor to us, or me, not helping us win today.\u201d<\/p>\n
In comparison Sergio Castillo was a perfect 4-for-4, including field goals from 37, 35 and 23 yards out in the fourth quarter for Winnipeg. Ward\u2019s lone completion was a 23-yard field goal early in the second half.<\/p>\n
The win allowed the Bombers (7-7) to move into third in the CFL’s West Division.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a great spark by Trey and then it just sort of took off,\u201d said Winnipeg head coach Mike O\u2019Shea. \u201cWe took the ball away a few more times. Offence moved it. We kicked some field goals, whatever, it\u2019s all good.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Bombers relied heavily on their run game Saturday. Chris Streveler, in for the injured Zach Collaros, completed just 3-of-8 passes for 54 yards and one interception. He rushed for 72 yards and one touchdown.<\/p>\n
Dru Brown, who returned from a knee injury, finished 33-for-45 for 406 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the end of the day, you know, you have to find ways to win,\u201d said Brown. \u201cIt\u2019s going to look different every week and we haven\u2019t been able to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n
The loss could severely impact Ottawa\u2019s playoff chances with just four games remaining.<\/p>\n
Redblacks head coach Bob Dyce couldn\u2019t help but think of the missed opportunities.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can have as many yards as you want to, you need to put the ball where it needs to be and you need to get it into the end zone,\u201d said Dyce.<\/p>\n
Winnipeg took the lead early in the second quarter on a Cam Allen interception that set the Bombers up on Ottawa’s 43. Streveler punched in a one-yard TD run to make it 14-7 three plays later.<\/p>\n
The Bombers extended their lead in the dying seconds of the half after Ottawa returner DeVonte Dedmon fumbled a punt return, allowing Winnipeg to recover on Ottawa’s 38. Streveler gained a couple yards to set up Castillo’s 44-yard effort.<\/p>\n
The Redblacks closed the game with a 10-yard touchdown pass to Kalil Pimpleton that only impacted the box score.<\/p>\n
Blue Bombers: Host the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Saturday, Sept. 27.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Redblacks: Will have their third and final bye week.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"OTTAWA \u2014 The Winnipeg Blue Bombers didn\u2019t dominate Saturday afternoon, but Trey Vaval\u2019s 128-yard missed field goal return…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":158728,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-158727","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\/158727","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=158727"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158727\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/158728"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=158727"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=158727"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=158727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}