{"id":794806,"date":"2026-07-11T10:17:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T10:17:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/794806\/"},"modified":"2026-07-11T10:17:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-11T10:17:09","slug":"blue-bombers-beat-argonauts-30-21-in-cfl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/794806\/","title":{"rendered":"Blue Bombers beat Argonauts 30-21 in CFL"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Winnipeg Blue Bombers quarterback Dru Brown (4) hands off to Brady Oliveira (20) during first half action against the Toronto Argonauts in Winnipeg on Friday.John Woods\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

Trey Vaval\u2019s 129-yard return touchdown after a missed Toronto Argonauts field goal attempt broke the game open in the fourth quarter of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers\u2019 30-21 win on Friday.<\/p>\n

The long return bailed out the Bombers after Vaval had fumbled a punt return moments earlier. <\/p>\n

When Toronto kicker Lirim Hajrullahu was wide left on a 40-yard, field-goal attempt, Vaval caught the ball deep in his own end zone and weaved his way through tacklers to score with less than nine minutes remaining. The win also marked a milestone for Blue Bombers quarterback Dru Brown, who was acquired in a June trade with the Ottawa Redblacks.<\/p>\n

With veteran quarterback Zach Collaros sidelined because of a neck injury, Brown threw for 339 yards to earn his first career victory as a Bomber starter at Princess Auto Stadium.<\/p>\n

He completed 25 of 31 pass attempts, threw one touchdown and was intercepted once.<\/p>\n

Although the win gave the home crowd a chance to celebrate, the matchup did not technically count as a home game for Winnipeg.<\/p>\n

The Argonauts (2-3) were the home team and the Bombers (3-2) wore their white road jerseys. Toronto\u2019s BMO Field has been unavailable due to FIFA World Cup matches.<\/p>\n

Winnipeg\u2019s offence racked up 406 net yards, leaning heavily on kicker Sergio Castillo, who hit five field goals from 56, 53, 40, 17 and 32 yards, while adding two converts.<\/p>\n

The Argonauts offence struggled to find a consistent rhythm against Winnipeg\u2019s defence, managing 351 net offensive yards and 20 first downs. Toronto quarterback Chad Kelly finished 24-of-36 in passing for 320 yards and two touchdowns.<\/p>\n

Bombers receiver Ontaria Wilson was the game\u2019s primary offensive target, leading all players with 10 receptions for 133 yards. Tim White caught Winnipeg\u2019s lone offensive touchdown.<\/p>\n

Running back Brady Oliveira rushed 16 times for 69 yards against a strong Toronto run defence.<\/p>\n

Makai Polk led Argonauts\u2019 receivers with 125 yards on four catches. He and Tyler Kahmann caught touchdown passes.<\/p>\n

Running back Sam Hicks provided Toronto\u2019s other score on a short plunge, and finished with 30 yards on six carries.<\/p>\n

Winnipeg threatened on its very first possession, marching 71 yards before Wilson fumbled at the Toronto four-yard line. Wilson turned a short catch into a 49-yard gain but was stripped by defensive back Benjie Franklin, with Tarvarus McFadden recovering the ball.<\/p>\n

The Bombers opened the scoring with 3:30 left in the first quarter when White grabbed a 35-yard touchdown to cap a seven-play, 79-yard series.<\/p>\n

Not long after, Kelly was sacked by Winnipeg linebacker Redha Kramdi and fumbled. Tony Jones recovered on the Toronto 52-yard line, leading to Castillo\u2019s 56-yard field goal and a 10-0 lead.Castillo struck again from 53 yards out early in the second quarter. Toronto replied on the next drive as Kelly connected with Polk for 55 yards, setting up a three-yard touchdown run up the middle by Hicks.<\/p>\n

Winnipeg countered immediately when Vaval returned the kickoff 56 yards. The field position resulted in a 40-yard Castillo field goal, and the kicker added a 17-yarder just before halftime for a 19-7 lead.<\/p>\n

The Blue Bombers\u2019 momentum stalled to open the second half. A promising third-quarter drive ended when Brown was intercepted in the end zone by DaShaun Amos, clearing the way for Toronto\u2019s lone touchdown drive of the half.<\/p>\n

Kelly orchestrated a seven-play, 80-yard drive that culminated in a five-yard touchdown pass to Kahmann, cutting the score to 19-14 late in the third.<\/p>\n

Winnipeg responded with Castillo\u2019s 32-yard field goal in the fourth quarter to push the lead to 22-14, and set the stage for Vaval\u2019s dramatic game-sealing return.<\/p>\n

Polk\u2019s 15-yard touchdown catch late in the half cut Winnipeg\u2019s lead to 29-21.<\/p>\n

Castillo kicked wide left attempting a sixth field goal with more than a minute remaining in the game, which resulted in a rouge and a 30-21 lead for Winnipeg.<\/p>\n

Kramdi had one sack and Willie Jefferson logged two sacks for Winnipeg, while Owen Goss recorded Toronto\u2019s lone sack.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Winnipeg Blue Bombers quarterback Dru Brown (4) hands off to Brady Oliveira (20)…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":794807,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,521,875,522,520,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,82,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-794806","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cfl","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-football-league","tag-canadian-news","tag-canadianfootballleague","tag-cfl","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/794806","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=794806"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/794806\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/794807"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=794806"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=794806"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=794806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}