Roughriders’ Trevor Harris piles up 400-plus passing yards in home opener versus victorious Blue Bombers

The quarterbacks put on a show Friday when the Winnipeg Blue Bombers posted a 45-27 CFL victory over the Saskatchewan Roughriders. 

The Roughriders’ Trevor Harris, who was a game-time decision due to a hip injury, threw for 413 yards and three touchdowns in his first appearance at Mosaic Stadium in green and white. 

All three Roughriders touchdowns came on receptions by Samuel Emilus. 

As well, Saskatchewan had two players with 100-plus receiving yards — Shawn Bane Jr. (six catches for 125 yards) and Tevin Jones (nine for 121).

The Blue Bombers, however, countered with a razor-sharp Zach Collaros. 

Collaros, the CFL’s Most Outstanding Player in each of the past two seasons, completed 23 of 31 passes for 293 yards and two TDs. He also ran three times for 17 yards and one major. 

Winnipeg opened the scoring at 7:11 of the first quarter when Sergio Castillo kicked a 36-yard field goal. 

The Roughriders countered with a seven-play, 70-yard touchdown drive that ended when Harris hit Emilus in the end zone from five yards away at 11:17 of the opening frame. 

Brett Lauther converted Emilus’s first CFL touchdown to give Saskatchewan a 7-3 lead. 

Winnipeg went ahead 10-7 when Castillo converted a 13-yard TD pass from Collaros to Dalton Schoen, who scored three minutes into the second quarter. 

Collaros then ran for a five-yard TD, converted by Castillo, to expand the Bombers’ lead to 17-7. The Bombers’ second TD drive was a 10-play, 82-yarder. 

The Roughriders answered with back-to-back TD passes from Harris to Emilus — from 20 and six yards away — and two Lauther converts to go ahead 21-17. 

Winnipeg responded with an eight-play, 65-yard march that culminated in a one-yard, TD-scoring quarterback sneak by Dru Brown at 7:57 of the third quarter. Castillo’s extra point gave Winnipeg a 24-21 lead. 

Janarion Grant’s 90-yard punt return, at 9:27 of the third quarter, was followed by a Castillo convert that expanded the Blue Bombers’ lead to 31-21. 

Lauther’s 30-yard field goal with 29 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter pared Winnipeg’s lead to 31-24. 

Brown’s second one-yard TD of the day gave Winnipeg a 37-24 advantage at 3:48 of the fourth quarter. 

Castillo missed the convert, but followed up with a single on the ensuing kickoff to give Winnipeg a 38-24 advantage. 

Lauther made it 38-27 with a 19-yard field goal at 7:12 of the fourth quarter. 

However, Winnipeg salted away the outcome when Collaros found Drew Wolitarsky for an 11-yard TD with 3:11 left in the game. Castillo’s convert gave Winnipeg a 45-27 advantage. 

Saskatchewan (1-1) is to return to action June 24 against the host Calgary Stampeders.