THE CANADIAN PRESS
HAMILTON, Ont. — Michael Bishop threw three touchdown passes, two of them to Adarius Bowman, as the Winnipeg Blue Bombers defeated the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 38-28 in CFL action Monday evening.
It was the Bombers’ third win in a row and improves their record to 6-8, tied for second spot in the East Division with the Ticats, who lost their third in a row to fall to 6-8.
Bowman, a second-year receiver out of Oklahoma State, had an unofficial 213 yards on 10 receptions in a game that Winnipeg led from its first possession and had built a 31-0 lead before Hamilton mounted a comeback. Receiver Brock Ralph and defensive back Lenny Walls also scored for the Bombers in front of 19,562 at Ivor Wynne Stadium.
Winnipeg kicker Alexis Serna hit three of four field-goal attempts, missing from 41 but making it from 18, 43 and 38 yards out.
Drisan James scored late in the third, the first TD of his career, to get the Ticats on the scoreboard, Markeith Knowlton added another on a fumble recovery, and Corey Grant and short-yardage QB Adam Tafralis also scored.
Bishop threw two interceptions, both in the end zone, and fumbled deep in Winnipeg territory.
Hamilton quarterback Quinton Porter was chased from the game late in the first quarter after two fumbles — his second on the Hamilton seven-yard-line was recovered by Walls, who ran it in for the score — and just 28 yards passing. He was replaced by Kevin Glenn, who led the late-game comeback with two TD passes, well after the game was out of reach.
The Bombers led 21-0 at halftime. They went up 31-0 midway through the third on a field goal and Bishop’s 20-yard touchdown strike to Ralph. The Ticats got on the board late in the third when Glenn led the Ticats on a four-play drive that ended with a 33-yard touchdown strike to James.
They pulled to 32-14 early in the fourth when Knowlton recovered a Bishop fumble on the Winnipeg two-yard line and ran it in. After a Serna field goal, Hamilton responded with a 62-yard drive ending with a one-yard TD run by Tafralis and the score was 35-21.
Hamilton was moving the ball again with five minutes left when Glenn was intercepted midfield by Keyuo Craver and Winnipeg regained control of the game. Serna kicked a field goal before Glenn led the Ticats downfield again, hitting Grant with a 14-yarder for the final score.
On their first possession of the game, the Bombers scored with a 95-yard drive on three plays. Bishop hit Bowman twice — first with a 52-yard pass to move the ball downfield and two plays later with the 43-yard scoring strike just 3:28 into the game.
Walls’ fumble-return TD spelled the end of Porter’s day, and Glenn came on in relief with 3:13 left in the first.
