HAMILTON — Brady Oliveira and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers continue to roll along.
Oliveira ran for a season-high 147 yards and a touchdown to power Winnipeg past the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 31-10 on Friday night.
The Bombers (10-6) earned their eighth straight win to move five points ahead of second-place Saskatchewan (7-7-1) in the West Division. Winnipeg clinched a home playoff game and will cement first — and home field for the West Division final Nov. 9 — if Saskatchewan suffers a loss or tie Saturday night against Edmonton (5-10).
“He was awesome,” Winnipeg head coach Mike O’Shea said of Oliveira. “I thought the O-line did a great job, Brady did a great job, Johnny (backup running back Johnny Augustine) coming in did a great job.
“Terrific. Certainly once again helped out the entire team.”
Oliveira was especially effective in the second half as Winnipeg dominated on both sides of the ball. Its offence scored two touchdowns while the defence held Hamilton to no second-half points for the first time this season. The Blue Bombers held possession for more than 38 minutes of the game.
Oliveira has run for a CFL-leading 1,254 yards. The league’s top Canadian last year also recorded his league-leading sixth 100-yard rushing performance.
“I thought philosophically the Ticats were giving us good boxes to run into and Brady and the boys up front really carried us,” said Bombers quarterback Zach Collaros. “That offence (Hamilton) has really been rolling over there and they (Bombers defence) did a great job of mitigating what they could do and causing turnovers.”
Terry Wilson’s one-yard TD run — his second of the game — at 6:51 of the fourth sealed the win for Winnipeg before a Tim Hortons Field crowd of 22,241.
Hamilton (6-10) suffered its first loss in five games to deal its precarious playoff hopes a severe blow. The Ticats remain four points behind idle Toronto (8-7) in the race for third in the East Division with two games remaining and the Argonauts having a contest in hand.
Hamilton’s loss earned idle Ottawa (8-6-1) a playoff berth, its first since losing the ’18 Grey Cup to Calgary.
“I thought we played physical we just didn’t establish the run they did,” said Hamilton quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell. “They moved guys and got Oliveira to the second level and we just weren’t able to establish that.
“It’s just frustrating to look back at the season and wonder, ‘What if,’ on certain games. It’s just taken too long to get to where we got to the last five weeks. Now we have minimal time and opportunity to make it happen.”
Collaros finished 13-of-19 passing for 201 yards and a touchdown. He threw for 432 yards and a career-high six TDs in last week’s 55-27 win over Edmonton.
Bombers’ cornerback Tyrell Ford registered his seventh interception to tie Saskatchewan’s Rolan Milligan Jr. for the CFL lead.
Mitchell was 15-of-27 for 217 yards with two interceptions before giving way to Taylor Powell in the fourth.
Kevens Clercius had Winnipeg’s other touchdown. Sergio Castillo added four converts and a field goal.
James Butler scored Hamilton’s touchdown. Marc Liegghio kicked the convert and a field goal.
Oliveira’s four-yard TD run at 13:54 of the third pushed Winnipeg’s lead to 24-10.
Liegghio’s 15-yard field goal to end the second cut Winnipeg’s halftime advantage to 17-10. It came after Mitchell’s completion to Tim White at the goal line was deemed incomplete upon review.
Mitchell’s 71-yard strike to Brendan O’Leary-Orange put the Ticats at the Winnipeg three-yard line. But earlier in the quarter, an open White couldn’t squeeze Mitchell’s 54-yard TD pass that would’ve erased Hamilton’s 10-7 deficit.
“We had some opportunities early to make the game a little bit different,” said Hamilton head coach Scott Milanovich. “Then in the second half, it started to get away from us and we kind of got in the situation where we couldn’t have a balance on offence.
“Give them credit, their defence got after our offence in the second half and we couldn’t do anything to stop
Added O’Shea: “Hamilton had some opportunities (that) didn’t quite go their way and we certainly capitalized on ours, I believe. And then in the second half I thought everybody had a great understanding of what had to be done and they went out there and did it.
“I really think they’re understanding of what they had to do, what they had to change and how they had to compete was awesome.”
O’Leary-Orange’s grab came after Wilson’s one-yard run at 14:13 put Winnipeg ahead 17-7. It capped a five-play, 76-yard march that was highlighted by Collaros’s 55-yard completion to Kenny Lawler.
Castillo’s 22-yard field goal to end the first put Winnipeg up 10-7.
Clercius opened the scoring with a 25-yard TD catch _ his first in the CFL _ at 6:41. Hamilton countered with Butler’s 18-yard touchdown run at 10:04.
UP NEXT — Hamilton: Bye week.
Winnipeg: Hosts Toronto (8-7) on Friday night.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 4, 2024.
Dan Ralph, The Canadian Press