CFL.ca Staff
VANCOUVER– In his first CFL game, Sergio Castillo completed five field goal attempts, including a game winning kick with no time left on the clock to lead the Bombers to a thrilling 29-26 win over the Lions at BC Place.
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The Blue and Gold flipped the script from last week when they missed four field goals in their 24-23 loss to the Eskimos.
BC’s offensive line was impressive in the loss as Jonathon Jennings went 24-for-31, throwing 372 yards for three touchdowns and two interceptions. His favorite target of the night was Emmanuel Arceneaux who had two touchdowns and racked up 151 yards on eight catches.
The Bombers were the first to strike on the scoreboard when they capitalized on a Lions turnover early in the first quarter. Winnipeg punted the ball away on their first drive, only to be recovered a few second later by Jesse Briggs after BC fumbled the ball on the return. Winnipeg regained possession just short of the red zone but were unable to punch in the ball and opted for a 13-yard field goal by Castillo.
Many wondered what Jennings would do as an encore for his five touchdown performance in a 46- 20 victory against the Roughriders in Week 15, and he did not disappoint in the first half. Jennings led a steady charge up the field midway through the first quarter, connecting with Emmanuel Arceneaux twice to pick up two first downs. Richie Leone capped off the drive by notching a 15-yard field goal to tie the game at 3-3.
A Bombers’ two-and-out would place the ball back in the hands of Jennings and he would pick up where he left off on the last drive. Lavelle Hawkins made an impressive catch and continued to bolt down the field for a 79-yard gain to place BC just short of the end zone. Maurice Leggett’s sack on the next play moved BC back 10-yards, but Jennings recovered and found Austin Collie for a touchdown on the first play of the second quarter to extend the Lion’s lead to 9-3.
Troy Stoudermire’s 39-yard punt return on the ensuring drive placed Winnipeg just short of BC territory and Matt Nichols tried to build on the momentum, finding Rory Kohlert for 14 yards. Cameron Marshall also added to the drive, rushing for another 14 yards to set up Castillo for his second field goal of the game to narrow the Lion’s lead to 9-6.
Jennings and Arceneaux put on a show in the second quarter, leading a touchdown drive by connecting for a 27-yard gain and then linking up again a few plays later for a major. The field goal attempt was blocked and scooped up by Johnny Adam, who bolted up the sideline, only to be tackled by Jennings to prevent the score.
The show was not over there as Arceneaux continued to put on a clinic in the first half. After making a catch, Arceneaux avoided a tackle by Demond Washington by shoving him to the ground and continuing to run with the ball for a 26-yard gain. On the next play, Jennings found Arceneaux in the end zone for his second touchdown of the night, and then again on the two-point conversion to enter the half with a 23-9 lead.
Castillo accounted for all of the Bombers’ points in the first half, going three-for-three in field goal attempts in the first 30 minutes.
The Lions stole the show in the first half, but the second half was all Bombers.
Winnipeg continued to fight and picked up momentum in the third quarter. The Lions were forced to punt on their first drive of the half but the Bombers special teams stepped up and blocked the kick. Ian Wild recovered the ball and ran it back into the end zone to cut the Lions lead to 23-16 to put Winnipeg right back into the game.
The Bombers continued to come on strong as Johnny Adams intercepted a pass intended for Arceneaux, returning it for 55 yards. The defensive play set up another field goal by Castillo, this time from 29 yards out to cut the deficit to 23-19.
A safety at the end of the quarter would add two more points to the Lions lead to set up a 25-19 match heading into the final quarter of the game.
On a gutsy play with 10 yards to go on a third down, the ball was snapped directly to Briggs and he ran for 11 yards for the first down. The Bombers decided to gamble again on a third down and the risk paid off as Nichols made a pass to Clarence Denmark for Winnipeg’s first offensive touchdown of the game with 1:54 remaining to tie the contest at 26-26.
Castillo capped off the comeback win with no time left on the clock with a 41-yard field goal to pull off the victory.
The Bombers face the REDBLACKS next week in Ottawa while the Lions will travel to Edmonton to take on the Eskimos, who clinched a home playoff game with a win over Calgary on Saturday.