Blue Bombers dominate Edmonton Elks as they make history at home

WINNIPEG – The Winnipeg Blue Bombers made history Saturday, with Nic Demski and Brady Oliveira becoming the first pair of Canadians on the same team to eclipse 1,000 yards receiving and rushing.

Their big performances helped to hold off the Edmonton Elks in an eventful first half, but the West Division leaders pulled away in the second half as they handed the Elks one final loss, 45-25.

Zach Collaros threw for 125 yards and a touchdown, Dru Brown threw for 94 yards and two touchdowns, Kenny Lawler led all receivers with 98 yards and Oliveira controlled the ground game with 72 yards and two touchdowns.

Tre Ford threw for 288 yards in the loss, while Eugene Lewis led through the air with 158 yards and Kevin Brown added 41 yards on the ground.

The Bombers got the home crowd on their feet early as an eight play, 80-yard drive that took just four minutes was capped off by Oliveira’s eighth rushing major of the season, with the Bombers back recording 25 yards on four carries for the touchdown.

Once the ball was back in the Elks’ possession, a Ford fumble ended up in the hands of Adam Bighill who returned it for a touchdown to put the Bombers up by two scores in 40 seconds.

Cameron Lawson got his fifth sack of the season on Ford to force a punt, but on the next Elks drive Ford connected with Emmanuel Arcenaux for a 77-yard catch to sets up an Elks one-yard touchdown from Taylor Cornelius.

A 43-yard field goal that snuck just inside the right upright from Dean Faithfull made it a four-point game to end the first quarter.

Sergio Castillo kicked a 24-yard field goal ti kick off the second quarter, and on the next Bombers drive Collaros found Drew Wolitarsky for 25 yards, and then again for 11 yards on the slant route for 25 yards to get to the Edmonton five yard line.

The eight play, 65 yard drive was topped with Oliveira’s second touchdown of the night as his three-yard touchdown run marked 61 yards through the game so far for him.

Ford and the Elks responded as he threw to Lewis for 32 yards to get to the Bombers’ 10 yard line, setting up Cornelius’ second touchdown on the night to put the Elks back within seven before halftime.

The Bombers marked history in the third quarter as Demski recorded a seven-yard grab to mark a 1,000 yard season for the first time in his career, which made the Bombers the first team to have a Canadian back rush for 1,000 yards in Oliveira and a Canada receiver catch for 1,000 yards on the same team.

Holding the Elks to just one point in the third quarter, the Bombers started to pull further away as Collaros connected with Oliveira for 17 yards before finding Rasheed Bailey for a six-yard touchdown.

Brown wasted no time picking up where Collaros left off, throwing a 37-yard dart to Lawler before picking up in the fourth throwing a touchdown to Greg McRae for 10 yards.

But just as the Bombers were celebrating, Deontez Alexander took the kickoff return 98 yards for a touchdown, the first time the Elks got a kickoff return touchdown in almost a decade.

Edmonton’s celebration was also short lived as Brown used Kenny Lawler to get downfield before he found Rasheed Bailey for 10 yards for his second touchdown of the night.

Just when the Elks looked to be in scoring position, the Bombers defence tallied their fifth sack of the night as Evan Holm got to Ford for a loss of 14 yards, all but ending any Elks hopes.

The Bombers will head to McMahon Stadium for Week 21 action as they played one last regular season game against the Calgary Stampeders, taking place at 9:00 p.m. EDT on Oct. 27.