ROUGHRIDERS ROLL OVER BOMBERS

REGINA—It was billed as playoff football in October, and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and Saskatchewan Roughriders lived up to it.

Punishing hits and stifling coverage put a premium on yardage in a game befitting of the storied history between these prairie rivals.

The stakes only hardened the intensity, and those were claimed by the hometown Roughriders with a 21-6 victory that gave them sole possession of first place in the log-jammed CFL West.

Neither team managed a touchdown until Saskatchewan’s Shaq Evans and quarterback Cody Fajardo hooked up on a 61-yard passand-run with less than three minutes to go, slamming the final nail in the Bomber coffin.

The red-hot Riders improved to 10-4 with their ninth win in 10 games, while the sliding Bombers lost their third in a row, and fourth in five, to land with a thud at 9-6.

Sandwiched between the two is Calgary, which lost in

Montreal to sit at 9-5.

The Bombers, in first place for much of the season, will have a hard time even hosting a playoff game, although they do face the Stampeders twice, so they control their own destiny in that regard.

Saskatchewan’s defence sacked Winnipeg quarterback Chris Streveler four times and intercepted him twice.

Fajardo was sacked three times but avoided turning the ball over.

The Riders, starting with the wind, opened the scoring with two long, firstquarter field goals of 49 and 48 yards by Brett Lauther.

A couple of secondquarter punt singles by Jon Ryan extended the lead to eight, as Saskatchewan’s defence kept the Bombers off the board until their last series of the first half.

That’s when Winnipeg quarterback Chris Streveler drove his team 43 yards on nine plays, Justin Medlock capping the drive with a 27