The Saskatchewan Roughriders host the Winnipeg Blue Bombers at home for the 60th Labour Day classic in CFL action Regina SK 2025-08-31 Photo Electric Umbrella/Derek Elvin
It was three Labour Day Classics for the price of one.
Sunday’s traditional late-summer long-weekend clash between the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and Saskatchewan Roughriders — a 34-30 home-team victory before the largest crowd to watch a CFL game at new Mosaic Stadium — was a hybrid of the previous two Classics.
“It was quite a bit of déjà vu, for sure,” Roughriders safety Jaxon Ford said of the latest down-to-the-wire thriller.
In 2023, Saskatchewan posted a 32-30 overtime victory. The deciding play was a pass knockdown by a blitzing Ford, who foiled Winnipeg’s attempt at a game-tying two-point conversion.
The difference between the teams was also marginal on Sept. 1, 2024, when Saskatchewan narrowed the gap to two points (35-33) on a one-yard touchdown run by Trevor Harris before the Roughriders’ attempt at a two-pointer was unsuccessful.
Then came Sunday, when a team finally notched late-game two-pointer. But it was a defensive player who reached the end zone, courtesy of a 112-yard pick-two (the first in franchise history) by Tevaughn Campbell.
“We don’t call it the Labour Day Classic for nothing,” Harris said.
“It was interesting how last year’s game kind of ended the opposite direction.”
Adding to the lengthy list of parallels, Ford and Campbell are both graduates of the University of Regina Rams.
“We’re just super-clutch,” Ford said with a laugh. “That’s it.”
Nobody could say “that’s it” — as in “game over” — until the waning seconds, when the teams added another chapter to a Labour Day weekend rivalry that is full of storybook endings.
There were three wild swings in the 60th Classic, witnessed by a standing-room-only crowd of 34,243 at the 33,350-seat facility.
Winnipeg jumped out to a 10-0 lead before Saskatchewan scored 31 of the next 38 points to go ahead 31-17.
(The Roughriders’ 30th and 31st points were courtesy of a two-pointer by Ajou Ajou, fittingly enough.)
Winnipeg roared back with two fourth-quarter Zach Collaros touchdown passes in a span of 3:33.
He hit Keric Wheatfall deep in the north end zone for a 33-yarder at 10:57 and followed up with a six-yarder to Dalton Schoen. The latter major, scored with 30 seconds remaining, pared the Roughriders’ lead to two.
Campbell took it from there, making a leaping pick two yards inside the end zone and sprinting down the east sideline.
“We kind of made it too close, but we just don’t give up,” he said. “There’s no quit in us. We keep going to the last whistle, the last second.”
Winnipeg was forced to go for two because of a surprising and successful punt by Roughriders quarterback Trevor Harris, whose 45-yarder on third-and-six produced a rouge — and an eight-point Saskatchewan lead — with 1:21 left on the clock.
It was the first CFL punt for the former Edinboro University Fighting Scots quarterback, who broke into the league with the Toronto Argonauts in 2012.
“I punted a couple of times in college,” Harris said, “so it has been about 16 years since I brought the ol’ right leg out.
“I didn’t really have that on the bingo card.”
Saskatchewan continues to have a leg up in the CFL standings, having improved its record to a league-best 9-2.
That puts the 2025 team in a three-way tie for the best 11-game record in franchise history, following the 9-2 starts of 1967 and 1970.
“We’re just happy we got a win versus a really good football team,” said Head Coach Corey Mace, whose team had lost 32-15 to the host Calgary Stampeders eight days earlier.
“Coming off a game where we were licking our wounds, so to speak, we had to be dialled in and go out and execute and win a game today.
“We’re just happy we went 1-and-0 (this week) and we’ve got to push our tails off to do it again in the hornets’ nest.”
Namely Winnipeg’s Princess Auto Stadium, where Saturday’s rematch will be held (2 p.m., CKRM, TSN).
Winnipeg will enter the game at 6-5 and third in the West Division standings, behind Saskatchewan and Calgary. The Stampeders carry a 7-3 slate into Monday’s matchup with the visiting Edmonton Elks, who have won three in a row.
After Sunday’s scoreless first quarter, the Roughriders and Blue Bombers combined for 24 second-quarter points.
Winnipeg scored 10 in the scored frame, beginning with a five-yard touchdown run by Brady Oliveira. Sergio Castillo added the convert and followed up with a 10-yard field goal.
The Roughriders responded with back-to-back TDs, both of which were converted by Brett Lauther.
The momentum shifted when Malik Carney sacked Collaros and, for good measure, recovered the resulting fumble on the Blue Bombers’ seven-yard line.
On the next play, A.J. Ouellette — who rushed 18 times for a game-high 89 yards — ran for a TD at 6:58 of the second quarter.
At 12:24, Tommy Nield crossed the goal line to complete a 69-yard touchdown bomb from Harris.
Lauther’s 34-yard field goal, at 6:15 of the third quarter, expanded Saskatchewan’s lead to 17-10.
Winnipeg answered with a 22-yard touchdown pass from Collaros to Nic Demski, who scored at 5:35 of the third frame. Castillo’s convert created a 17-17 tie.
Saskatchewan assumed a 23-17 lead when Mario Anderson Jr. scored on a 26-yard run at 14:38 of the third quarter to complete a seven-play, 86-yard march that consumed 4:37.
It was the first touchdown in the pro ranks for Anderson Jr., who rushed for 1,362 yards on behalf of the University of Memphis Tigers last season.
Anderson Jr. scored again, on a five-yard run, at 4:57 of the fourth quarter to complete a four-play, 35-yard possession. Harris then hit Ajou for a two-pointer that put the Riders ahead 31-17.
Anderson Jr.’s second touchdown was set up when A.J. Allen forced a fumble by Oliveira. Jameer Thurman pounced on the football in Winnipeg territory.
“Everything was good,” Anderson Jr. said after rushing three times for 34 yards. “I appreciate the opportunity for the coaches to be able to put their trust in me and for my teammates to be able to put their trust in me as well.”
Anderson Jr.’s score preceded a wild, back-and-forth flurry that culminated in Campbell’s length-of-the-field interception return and the resulting roar from the third-largest crowd to watch a Labour Day Classic.
“It was everything, just to go out there in front of the fans,” he said. “It’s the last play that really mattered and, to make that play, it was great.”
Following Campbell’s score, the Blue Bombers attempted an onside kick and were unsuccessful.
After three consecutive kneel-downs by Harris, it was game … set … matchup to resume on Saturday in Winnipeg.
TEVAUGHN’S TALLY
Campbell tied a long-standing Roughriders record for the longest interception return (112 yards).
Bruce Bennett scored on a 112-yarder against the visiting Stampeders on Aug. 27, 1972.
(Bennett used to coach high school football in Lake Wales, Fla. — the hometown of Roughriders defensive back Rolan Milligan Jr.)
Bennett and Campbell are part of a five-way tie for the 10th-longest interception return in CFL history.
Campbell now has 201 yards on four interception returns this season. With seven regular-season games remaining, Campbell already has the second-highest interception-return yards total in team history. Dale West set the team record of 226 in 1963.
Toronto’s Byron Parker set the league record of 348 interception-return yards in 2006. That season, he returned four of his eight picks for a touchdown.
Until Sunday, a Roughrider had never taken an interception return the distance on a two-point convert attempt.
The Roughriders did register two points after an opposing touchdown on Aug. 15, 2017, when Duron Carter fielded a missed one-point placement attempt and sprinted 113 yards and into the end zone at Edmonton’s Commonwealth Stadium.
TREVOR’S TOTALS
Harris extended his TD-pass streak to 14 consecutive games, including playoff action and consecutive seasons. The team record of 15 is shared by Ron Lancaster (1976-77) and Kent Austin (1993).
As well, Harris moved past former Roughriders star Kent Austin on two of the CFL’s All-Time lists.
By throwing for 219 yards, Harris finished the game with 36,062 career passing yards, going for 13th in league history. Austin (36,030) is now fourth.
Harris also moved past Austin and assumed sole possession of 15th in touchdown passes (199). With 45 TD passes as a Roughrider, he is now ninth in franchise history, having moved past Glenn Dobbs (44) on Sunday.
With another 13 completions, Harris will rank 10th All-Time in the CFL and pass six-time Most Outstanding Player Doug Flutie (2,975).
Collaros ascended to 15th in yardage (35,067) on Sunday, leapfrogging Dieter Brock (34,830) and Michael Reilly (34,805).
With three TDs, Collaros improved to 212 (13th All-Time) and moved past Brock (210).
ONE MORE HARRIS NOTE: His punt was the first by a Riders quarterback since Aug. 1, 2019, when Cody Fajardo ran seven yards on the final play of the first half before punting the ball 49 yards. The Hamilton Tiger-Cats’ Michael Daly retrieved the ball seven yards deep in the end zone and barely made it out, averting a single.
EXTRA POINTS
• The attendance (34,243) was the 13th-best in Roughriders history (including the 2013 Grey Cup Game). As well, Sunday’s crowd was a franchise high in a year that did not include a Regina-based Grey Cup Game and the resulting temporary seating.
• Nield’s 69-yard touchdown catch — the ninth-longest reception in a Labour Day Classic — was his third in four starts with the Roughriders. He had a team-high 86 yards on three receptions on Sunday.
• Nield completed a four-play, 102-yard touchdown drive. There have been only 22 longer drives for the Roughriders since 1982. Over that span, Saskatchewan has had 11 102-yarders.
• Thurman reached a career milestone in defensive tackles (500). With five tackles on Sunday, he reached a career total of 503. The 30-year-old middle linebacker added one of the Roughriders’ five sacks against Winnipeg.
• Carney had his third two-sack game of the season (all at home). He added a forced fumble (which he recovered) and a tackle for a loss.
• Anderson Jr. became the 623rd player to score a regular-season TD for the Roughriders or the Regina Rugby Club, dating back to 1910.
• Winnipeg was held to 25 rushing yards and an average of 3.1 per carry. It was the 25th-lowest post-Second World War rushing-yardage total by a Saskatchewan opponent in a 60-minute game. Oliveira was limited to 24 yards on five carries.
• Defensive tackle Ali Saad, who was chosen fourth overall by Saskatchewan in the 2025 CFL Draft, registered his first career sack.
• With five sacks, Saskatchewan increased its league-leading total to 33. Twenty-one of those sacks have been registered over the last four games.
• Saskatchewan’s KeeSean Johnson had five receptions (for 45 yards) to reach 60 for the season. Keon Hatcher of the B.C. Lions leads the league with 61 catches.
• The first quarter was scoreless for only the third time in 60 Labour Day Classics (1952, 1970, 2025).
• Mace’s father was in town for Sunday’s game. John Mace lives in San Diego.
