Bombers lay brutal beating on Als

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This article was published 21/06/2018 (2127 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

MONTREAL — Chris Streveler may look like a fresh-faced rookie but he certainly doesn’t act like one.

On Friday night, the 23-year-old newcomer from the University of South Dakota passed for three touchdowns and rambled one yard for another major to lead the Winnipeg Blue Bombers to a 56-10 victory over the Montreal Alouettes in CFL action before an announced crowd of 19,498 at Percival Molson Stadium.

And he accomplished all of this while making only his second pro start in place of injured No. 1 man Matt Nichols.

“The game plan was great,” said Streveler. “I’ve got to give the coaches a lot of credit setting that up throughout the week. Obviously, putting up a lot of points tonight, we’re really happy with how we executed.

“Really happy to get the win and perform well as a whole as a team. We’ll enjoy this for the next 24 hours and then get back to work.” 

With the victory, the Blue Bombers improved their regular-season record to 1-1. Meanwhile, the sad-sack Als fell to 0-2 and have lost 13 straight and 17 of their last 20 games dating back to 2017. 

Streveler engineered two early 95-yard drives and tossed TD passes to Drew Wolitarsky (16 yards) and Nic Demski (10 yards) as the Blue Bombers roared out to a 34-7 lead at the intermission.

“I think I said the other day he’s not a rookie anymore,” said Blue Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea. “He’s shown once again — and we’d talked about this — he’s shown the ability to learn on basically a daily basis. Possibly on a play by play and a series basis, he’s come to the sideline learning something new. If he keeps that up, he’ll be a lot of fun to watch. And he knows he’s got some work to do and some things we know he can work on. But boy, he’s executing on a really high level.”

Streveler added another 10-yard touchdown strike in the fourth quarter to Wolitarsky, whose father, born in the U.S and raised in Canada, and his Montreal-born mother made the trip from their home in California to attend the game.

“One for mom and one for dad tonight,” said an elated Wolitarsky, who is an American by birth but applied for his Canadian passport last year. “… It was just cool being with them and seeing the full circle of life. It was special moment for all of us.”

The Blue Bombers went to their bag of tricks early in the game, when wide receiver Darvin Adams pulled down Streveler’s quick out behind the line of scrimmage and fired a 26-yard strike to running back Andrew Harris in the end zone for an early 10-0 lead.

Streveler’s final numbers were excellent as he calmly directed the talented arsenal at his disposal, buying time for the passing game when he needed to with his legs as his receivers went to scramble mode.

The Crystal Lake, Ill., product went 22-for-28 passing for 246 yards and zero interceptions while also rolling up 98 rushing yards on 10 carries. Montreal’s defence really had no answer for Streveler’s hot hand and only got a reprieve when Bryan Bennett replaced the starter midway through the fourth quarter.

“Playing quarterback, passing is the first and foremost deal,” said Streveler. “You want to be a passer and if things break down and it’s necessary to move the chains by running, that’s something that I’m willing to do. I want to take pride in my throwing and the ability to move the ball through the air. The running, that’s just an added element that we can use as well.”

Added O’Shea: “I thought they did well in the first half. I mean, they started with almost an eight-minute drive. We’d have liked to finish with a touchdown. I thought they worked hard to finish, to keep the energy up and keep going. You know, there’s still a couple of things to work on but let them enjoy it tonight and tomorrow and we’ll talk about the last nine minutes.”

Streveler’s only glaring mistake came early in the game when he tried to find Adams with a deep throw in the Montreal end. Streveler threw into double coverage only to have Als defender Jermaine Robinson drop what should have been an easy interception.

While Streveler and the offence controlled the clock, Winnipeg’s defence was also operating at a high level. 

Defensive end Tristan Okpalaugo registered two of three sacks for the visitors, who had a 38:16 to 21:44 edge in time of possession. Winnipeg also had a 588-195 yardage edge in total offence and its sturdy offensive line did not allow a sack.

“Yeah, I thought we had some sustained pressure,” said O’Shea. “Obviously, we controlled the line of scrimmage on offence, too, but I think I was really pleased to see the pressure the defensive line and front seven could generate. All three phases had good plans coming in.” 

Winnipeg’s Justin Medlock was a perfect 4-for-4 in the field goal department, hitting from 13, 40, 30 and 33 yards. Reserve running back Kienan LeFrance, a Winnipeg product, added his first TD as a Blue Bomber on a two-yard run late in the fourth quarter.

Montreal quarterback Drew Willy, starting his first game against his former team since being traded by the Blue Bombers in 2016, connected with B.J. Cunningham on an eight-yard touchdown pass in the first half. Boris Bede also had a 21-yard field goal for the hosts. Montreal also gave up a safety.

Willy, replaced in the fourth quarter by Jeff Mathews, went 16-for-25 passing for 111 yards. 

NOTEWORTHY: Former Blue Bombers defensive tackle Faith Ekakitie was a pre-game scratch as the Alouettes reduced their 46-man roster to the 44-man roster limit. Defensive end John Bowman was also scratched… Defensive end Craig Roh and O-lineman Manase Foketi were scratched by Winnipeg… The Blue Bombers got a scare when running back Andrew Harris left with an apparent leg injury in the third quarter. He was spotted on the sideline riding a stationary bike soon after.

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.caTwitter: @sawa14