Blue Bombers spoil Nik Lewis' record night with OT win over Alouettes
Montreal slotback becomes CFL's all-time receptions leader
It was another game against the Montreal Alouettes that went down to the final play and once again, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers had the last word.
Justin Medlock's fourth field goal of the game in the second overtime lifted the Blue Bombers to a 34-31 victory on Thursday night.
It was the Bombers' fifth win in a row, a streak that started July 27 with a wild 41-40 home victory over Montreal when they erased a 12-point Alouette lead in the final two minutes.
"A huge win," said Winnipeg quarterback Matt Nichols, who threw touchdown passes to Clarence Denmark and Julian Feoli-Gudina in regulation time. "We knew it would take the entire game to come away with it.
"With the confidence this team had, we knew we'd find a way to win. Attitude is a deadly thing in this league and we feel we're going to win every time we step on the field. Guys stepped up and made plays when we needed them, in all phases."
The win left the Bombers at 7-2 at the midpoint of the CFL regular season heading into back-to-back games against rival Saskatchewan Sept. 4 in Regina and Sept. 9 in Winnipeg.
Montreal ended the first half at 3-6, the same record as last season despite wholesale player and management changes.
The loss put a damper on celebrations for Montreal slotback Nik Lewis, who caught 10 passes to set a CFL record with 1,031 career receptions, two more than B.C. Lions great Geroy Simon. Commissioner Randy Ambrosie led a post-game ceremony to honour the 14-year veteran's achievement at centre field.
'I don't play football to break records'
"It's an amazing feeling to know that if you keep working it is possible," said Lewis. "For a kid like me who never thought he'd play professional football, this is a pretty outstanding honour."
George Johnson and Ernest Jackson caught touchdown passes and Bede booted three field goals for Montreal, which was coming off a 38-6 loss in Toronto last week.
Regulation time ended at 23-23. Both teams got touchdowns and two-point conversions on their first possession from the 35-yard line in OT, but Darian Durant was picked off by Chris Randle on the Alouettes' second try. That left an easy 38-yard boot for Medlock to get the win.
It was Randle's second pick of the game.
The Alouettes erased a 10-point Winnipeg lead in the final 5:07 to force OT, with Bede tying the game with a 48-yard field goal with nine seconds left on the clock. The final play saw the teams punt the ball back and forth as the Bombers tried to avoid giving up a single on the kickoff. The ball was kicked five times before it was run out of bounds.
"I don't play football to break records, I play to win, and we let another one slip through," said Lewis. "We just keep doing it."