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’Riders blow out Bombers in Banjo Bowl

Running back Wes Cates could have chosen any number of words to describe the 55-10 beating his Saskatchewan Roughriders laid on the Winnipeg Blue Bombers on Sunday.
CFL Roughriders Blue Bombers 20090913
Saskatchewan Roughrider Wes Cates scores one of his three touchdowns as Winnipeg Blue Bombers Michael Landry can’t come up with the stop on Sunday. Roughriders won 55-10.

Roughriders 55 Blue Bombers 10

WINNIPEG — Running back Wes Cates could have chosen any number of words to describe the 55-10 beating his Saskatchewan Roughriders laid on the Winnipeg Blue Bombers on Sunday.

He kept it simple.

“That was just a good old-fashion whipping, I guess you could say,” said Cates, who scored three touchdowns off a 10-yard catch and runs of one and four yards.

“They really didn’t help themselves out. They had way too many turnovers.”

You can say that again.

The Bombers turned the ball over eight times — four consecutive times in the second quarter — and Saskatchewan scored 31 points off of seven turnovers in front of a sold-out crowd of 29,533 at Canad Inns Stadium.

Riders kicker Luca Congi was good on all six of his field-goal attempts from 33, eight, 32 and 29 yards and two from 40.

Jamie Boreham had two singles on a punt and kickoff. Quarterback Darian Durant also ran for a 10-yard TD and receiver Andy Fantuz hauled in a 34-yard TD pass. Winnipeg had one turnover on downs, three fumbles and four interceptions.

Saskatchewan (6-4), which is tied for first in the CFL West Division with Calgary (6-4), only had one turnover, when Durant was intercepted by linebacker Derrick Doggett.

The early fourth-quarter pick led to a 48-yard field goal by Alexis Serna. Winnipeg’s only other scoring was a 35-yard TD run by Fred Reid with 40 seconds left in the first quarter.

The Bombers drop to 3-7, keeping them tied for last place in the CFL with the Toronto Argonauts (3-7).

In last week’s 29-14 Riders’ win in Regina, Winnipeg committed six turnovers that led to 13 points.

Durant completed 18-of-36 pass attempts for 225 yards, the one interception and one TD.

Bombers quarterback Michael Bishop was 9-of-21 for 98 yards and two interceptions. Bryan Randall was 2-of-9 for 26 yards and two interceptions.

“Our defence played so well and we got pressure on the quarterbacks, whomever they happened to be,” Saskatchewan head coach Ken Miller said.

“And we got the Blue Bomber offence out of rhythm. Except for the Fred Reid touchdown, we were able to manage the run.”

Bombers defensive end Gavin Walls probably summed up what most of his teammates were feeling: “It was very, very embarrassing.

“I almost want to walk out of here with a bag on my head.”

Walls said every player has to be re-evaluated to try to figure out what’s wrong and make it better.