Surging Blue Bombers blitz Elks 55-27, clinch playoff spot

Zach Collaros had a feeling during warm-up that it could beryllium a peculiar crippled betwixt his Winnipeg Blue Bombers and the Edmonton Elks on Friday.

He was correct.

Collaros threw a career-high six touchdown passes to ignite the Bombers successful a 55-27 triumph implicit the Elks that extended their triumph streak to 7 games and clinched a playoff spot for the eighth consecutive season.

“We springiness a handshake to each other, fractional the warm-up is done, and you benignant of consciousness everybody is conscionable truly locked in, a truly precocious consciousness of focus,” Collaros said.

“I did really truly consciousness that. I typically don’t bask being the feline to person to hype everybody up, but I had to stock that with them.”

Winnipeg’s archetypal 4 bid of the crippled resulted successful touchdown catches by Nic Demski, Keric Wheatfall and Brady Oliveira, positive a tract extremity by Sergio Castillo.

The detonation of points had the team’s 3rd consecutive sellout assemblage of 32,243 astatine Princess Auto Stadium cheering wildly arsenic the CFL West Division-leading Blue Bombers improved to 9-6.

The Elks dropped to 5-10 and person a flicker of a accidental to inactive marque the CFL playoffs.

Collaros completed 21 of 26 walk attempts for a season-high 432 yards with the six TDs and nary interceptions. His vocation champion for passing successful a crippled is 439 yards.

“We travel successful arsenic a small ellipse and you tin conscionable spot the look successful his eyes and conscionable the connection helium gave us, ‘that something’s antithetic successful the air,’” Demski said of Collaros.

“From that infinitesimal connected it’s like, yea OK, he’s locked in. And helium came retired and proved it.”

Elks quarterback McLeod Bethel-Thompson, who got the commencement up of Tre Ford, had a pugnacious nighttime against Winnipeg’s stifling defence. He was 19-of-34 passing for 223 yards with 3 TDs and nary picks.

“Execution, man,” Bethel-Thompson said. “To travel successful and person a show similar that is highly disappointing and embarrassing. It’s not who the heck we are.”

Edmonton interim caput manager Jarious Jackson wasn’t pinning the blasted connected his quarterback. He besides wasn’t backtracking connected his determination to commencement Bethel-Thompson implicit Ford.

“McLeod’s inactive our quarterback,” Jackson said. “I thought helium played well. Early on, we’ve got to assistance him with immoderate of the calls and immoderate of the things that we’re doing offensively.”

He was gladsome to spot his squad conflict successful the 2nd fractional and believes they tin physique connected that.

Winnipeg led 17-0 aft the archetypal quarter, 34-6 astatine halftime and 41-20 heading into the fourth.

Demski had a brace of TD receptions for 40 and 11 yards, portion Kenny Lawler added 2 majors with catches of six and 7 yards.

Lawler finished with a crippled precocious of 130 yards disconnected 8 catches and Demski had 4 receptions for 117 yards.

Wheatfall took a walk and turned it into a 61-yard large and Oliveira grabbed a abbreviated flip and deked and dashed 33 yards into the extremity zone.

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Winnipeg antiaircraft extremity TyJuan Garbutt scooped up a fumbled Edmonton pass effort and ran 62 yards for a TD.

Castillo connected connected tract goals from 39 and 33 yards and made 7 converts.

Edmonton kicker Boris Bede booted an 18-yard tract extremity astatine 10:10 of the 2nd 4th to get the visitors connected the board. He added a 24-yarder arsenic clip expired connected the archetypal fractional and made 3 converts.

Eugene Lewis, Tevin Jones and Dillon Mitchell each had TD catches for the Elks.

Edmonton’s fortunes turned early.

On Winnipeg’s archetypal bid of the game, Lawler fumbled a drawback the Elks recovered but a reappraisal deemed Lawler had been down by contact.

Three plays later, Collaros fired the shot 40 yards to Demski successful the extremity portion and Castillo deed the person to statesman spinning the numbers connected the scoreboard.

Edmonton’s archetypal 4 possessions ended with 3 punts and a turnover connected downs.

Collaros utilized the turnover for a TD walk to Wheatfall and 17-0 pb astatine 12:49 of the archetypal quarter.

Oliveira and Garbutt’s scores made it 31-0 astatine 6:45 of the second.

Three tract goals ended the archetypal half.

Lewis, Lawler and Jones provided 3 touchdowns for the third-quarter scoring that chopped Winnipeg’s pb to 41-20.

Demski added his 2nd TD of the crippled 23 seconds into the fourth, followed by Lawler’s stretching drawback successful the extremity portion astatine 7:06 to boost the pb 55-20.

Mitchell recorded his 37-yard TD drawback arsenic clip expired.

UP NEXT

Elks: Host the Saskatchewan Roughriders connected Saturday, Oct. 5.

Blue Bombers: Visit the Hamilton Tiger-Cats connected Friday.