Harris caps wild Blue Bombers’ comeback
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 run 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 aided Winnipeg 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 TD with a two-yard run.
The Bombers (3-2) had 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 head’s-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 at 1:42 of 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 at 9:08 and Logan followed up with his scoring run at 13:20.
After Lankford’s four-yard TD catch closed the gap 40-35, Winnipeg’s Brandon Alexander recovered Medlock’s onside kick.
A roughing the passer penalty called on Montreal and Nichols’ 15-yard run helped 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 kneeled on the final one), hit a pair of field goals from 35 and 27 yards and missed two.