Winnipeg’s wonderful final minute
Host Blue Bombers overcome 12-point deficit at the wire to defeat Alouettes
WINNIPEG — Andrew Harris ran in his second touchdown of the game from one yard out as time expired to lift the Winnipeg Blue Bombers to a wild 41-40 victory over the Montreal Alouettes on Thursday.
It looked to be over for the Blue Bombers when Stefan Logan scored a 31-yard touchdown with 1:40 left in the game to make it 40-28 Alouettes — but that wasn’t the case.
Quarterback Matt Nichols marched his team down the field on their next possession and hit Ryan Lankford for a TD with 48 seconds on the clock.
Justin Medlock was then successful with his onside kick, giving the Bombers the ball on their own 52-yard line with 44 seconds to play. After a combination of penalties taken by Montreal helped Winnipeg move into Alouettes territory, Harris completed the comeback. The touchdown stood despite it appearing that Harris’s knee was down before crossing the goal-line.
Harris also had the game’s first touchdown with a two-yard run.
The Bombers (3-2) tied the game 27-27 in front of 25,931 fans at Investors Group Field off a Medlock 27-yard field goal with 33 seconds left in the third quarter, but a heads-up play by Montreal receiver Eugene Lewis led to the Alouettes retaking the lead.
With the ball looking like it was flying out of bounds, Lewis — making his CFL debut — batted it back into play and teammate B.J. Cunningham grabbed it and ran down to Winnipeg’s one-yard line.
The Alouettes (2-4) couldn’t break Winnipeg’s defensive stand, but regained a 30-27 lead with Boris Bede’s nine-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter.
Medlock went wide right on a 37-yard field-goal attempt and Winnipeg settled for a single.
Bede stretched the lead to 33-28 with a 34-yarder and Logan followed up with his scoring run with just 1:40 remaining.
After Lankford’s four-yard TD catch closed the gap to 40-35, Winnipeg’s Brandon Alexander recovered Medlock’s onside kick.
A roughing-the-passer penalty called on Montreal, followed by a 15-yard run by Nichols set up Harris’s winning score.
Receivers Clarence Denmark and backup quarterback Dan LeFevour also had majors for Winnipeg.
Medlock was good on four converts (he knelt on the final one), hit a pair of field goals from 35 and 27 yards and missed two field goals.
Fullback Jean-Christopher Beaulieu and receivers Cunningham and Ernest Jackson also scored touchdowns for Montreal, while Bede connected on field goals from nine, 28, 34 and 35 yards and made four converts.
The Alouettes got off to rough start, but led 14-7 after the first quarter and 24-14 at halftime.
Quarterback Darian Durant’s second throw of the game was intercepted by Bombers defensive end Jackson Jeffcoat, who ran in front of an Alouettes receiver cutting across for a short pass.
Winnipeg took over at Montreal’s 27-yard line, and three plays later Harris ran in his third TD of the season for the 7-0 lead.
The Alouettes responded with an eight-play, 80-yard drive capped by Beaulieu’s touchdown run after a Winnipeg challenge on a pass interference call that took Montreal to the one-yard line was unsuccessful.
Montreal’s next possession was also aided by a Winnipeg penalty.
Bombers defensive end Jamaal Westerman was flagged for roughing, moving the ball to Winnipeg’s 10. After Durant was sacked by Jeffcoat for a loss, the pivot tossed a 13-yard TD pass to Cunningham at 10:56 to go ahead 14-7.
Denmark tied it 14-14 at 2:38 of the second quarter with a 10-yard catch.
Medlock hit the upright on his 47-yard attempt with 2:17 left in the half. It was his second straight miss after coming up short on a 50-yard try last week.
Jackson’s 36-yard TD reception came with under a minute to play in the half, then a Winnipeg penalty on a Medlock punt gave the Als good field position.
Bede was good on a 28-yarder at 14:59 for the 24-14 halftime lead.
Montreal had only allowed three quarterback sacks through its first five games this season, but the Bombers tallied three in the first half alone.
Weston Dressler didn’t play his receiver position in the second half because of a lower-body injury, but he did hold for Medlock.
He performed that duty early in the third quarter for a convert after LeFevour ran 11 yards for a TD 3:41 in to cut Montreal’s lead to 24-21.