The Canadian Press
Ryan McKenna
REGINA–Blue Bombers’ head coach Mike O’Shea noticed Andrew Harris enter the media room after Winnipeg’s West Division semi-final victory and felt compelled to downplay his running back’s performance.
“Yeah, he was OK,” O’Shea said with a laugh.
Harris ran in a fourth quarter touchdown as the Blue Bombers beat the Saskatchewan Roughriders 23-18 yesterday.
Winnipeg now will travel to Calgary this coming Sunday to face the Stampeders in the West final, with the winner earning a Grey Cup berth.
Harris finished the game with 19 carries for 153 yards while Matt Nichols threw a touchdown to Drew Wolitarsky.
“I just enjoy watching him work because he’s always doing it so hard and so well,” O’Shea said of Harris.
“We get on his back any time we get the chance.”
Harris exploded for 126 rushing yards in the second half to get the Blue Bombers’ offence rolling.
His touchdown run came a few plays after he rushed for 37 yards to give Winnipeg good field position.
Harris said the key to bouncing back from a slower first half was to just stick with his team’s game plan.
“The run game is usually hard to get going right away and if you can, that’s great,” he noted. “But usually a second half [is] when you get things going.
“You start to wear the defence down.”
Saskatchewan head coach Chris Jones said his team didn’t tackle very well, which is what led to Harris’ success.
“We had him at the line of scrimmage or close to the line of scrimmage two or three times, and we just did not tackle very well,” he remarked.
The Bombers hadn’t won a playoff game since the 2011 East Division final against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
They also hadn’t beat Saskatchewan in the playoffs since the 1965 West Division semi-final.
Harris, a Winnipeg native, said his phone was blowing up with text messages and e-mails from family and friends.
“I mean, everyone’s excited about it,” he noted.
“We can enjoy this now but we have to flush it and move on to Calgary,” he stressed.
The Roughriders struggled to get much going on offence as No. 1 quarterback Zach Collaros was scratched before the game due to injury.
He was hit in Saskatchewan’s regular-season finale on Oct. 27 against B.C. after taking a hit late in the first quarter.
Jones said Collaros passed concussion protocol earlier in the week and returned from Saskatchewan’s bye week without any problems.
But when it came down to deciding who to start, Jones didn’t want to risk it.
“He didn’t say it was a concussion,” Jones said. “He just said he didn’t feel 100 percent and I just didn’t want to risk another situation like we had with Ottawa earlier in the year.”
Collaros missed four games earlier in the season after suffering a concussion in Week 2 against the Redblacks.
Canadian Brandon Bridge replaced Collaros and completed 12-of-22 passes for 100 yards. He also carried the ball five times for 86 yards.
The Toronto native was the first Canadian quarterback to start a CFL playoff game since Gerry Dattilio back in 1984.
Kevin Fogg intercepted Bridge midway through the second quarter to kill a solid drive for the Riders.
The Bombers used the turnover to score their first touchdown of the game as Nichols connected with Wolitarsky for a 20-yard score.
The Blue Bombers now turn their attention to Calgary, which they last faced in the post-season during the 2001 Grey Cup–a game they lost.
O’Shea said the Stampeders run through quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell and a victory will depend on Winnipeg figuring him out.
“He’s an unbelievable player, right?” O’Shea said. “Have to figure out how to figure him out.”
Hamilton routed B.C. 48-8 in the East semi-final earlier yesterday and now will meet Ottawa this Sunday in the division final.
