Ugly football has never been this good as the Blue Bombers avoid a fifth defeat

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It was not a night for the faint of heart. One might even say an ugly night.

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More than 28,000 people gathered on a perfect Friday night to watch a fierce battle on the south end of town.

As the rubber bullets settled, the Blue Bombers, some of whose members limped off the field, claimed their first win of the season.

Led by the like-minded Chris Streveler and Brady Oliveira, the Bombers defeated the Ottawa Redblacks 25-16 in a game that had nothing to do with their open reputation for three-down football.

This was like a good ol' fashioned back alley brawl.

Both teams had more yards on the ground than through the air, but how often do we see that in the CFL?

“This is our style of football,” said Oliveira, who had his first 100-yard game of the season. “This is the way we want to play here and we're finally getting it back.”

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After missing all of training camp this season and getting off to a slow start, Oliveira has been his old self, attacking would-be tacklers and scoring on every run.

He ran for 129 yards, more passing yards than either team, and carried the ball 23 times, more than either team threw.

His quarterback ran another 79 yards, enduring every hit the defense threw at him and getting back up again.

After five years without a game and barely playing in that time, Streveler must have felt like he'd only played three games.

“It's the best I've ever been,” he said. “It feels amazing.”

He and the running back appeared shaken for a while, with Oliveira even leaving the field at one point to head to the trainer's room.

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But he and Streveler finished the match the same way they started it.

Oliveira and Streveler both participated in five plays on the game's opening drive, but no one else did.

And when the Bombers offense got the ball one last time with 2:20 left, leading by six and needing to kill the clock, the same two names came up eight times.

Finally, Sergio Castillo scored a field goal to secure the victory.

“That's the way we're used to playing football,” Streveler said, “and to have it show in a game where we needed it was huge.”

After five straight losses, including three at home, it's hard to imagine what's to come from this team.

And winning once doesn't solve all your problems.

They committed too many fouls on Friday — eight for 95 yards — and the passing game, well, it just wasn't good enough.

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Starter Zach Collaros is expected to return to practice next week.

And receiver Lucky Whitehead arrived in town on Friday and should make inroads in a weakened receiver corps.

Therefore, there is reason to believe that air attacks will improve.

The other reason is what we saw from the offensive line.

“That was exactly how we envisioned it to play,” veteran Pat Neufeld said. “We played physical. We were persistent in the run game. We felt like we were back on track, so it's definitely a weight off our shoulders.”

Neufeld said, tucked a case of beer under his arm as he made his way back to the offensive line of the room, surely the ultimate reward for a job well done.

The defense was also worth a beer or two.

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Their head coach will likely be the first to give a toast.

“Our defense was unbelievable in the first half,” Mike O'Shea said. “It was suffocating. It was great to see all three phases working together like that.”

The defense only allowed three points in the first half, neutralizing the Redblacks' offense.

Led by Willie Jefferson's best performance of the season, the Dark Side played their best game of the year overall.

Meanwhile, the Bombers' offense was dominating the Ottawa defense.

“I like that kind of football. It's a lot of fun,” O'Shea said. “I don't know what the score was at the half (13-3), but it might have felt a little boring, but it wasn't for us on the sideline. For our team, it was pretty cool.”

This team needed to know that after all the changes, they could still win like this. They could still win, that's all.

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“Winning is hard,” O'Shea said, “as we've shown this year, so the guys have to savor the moment. I don't know if the coaching staff is benefiting from it. We would like to be. Our goal is to try to be happier, but there's always something to improve on.”

One is a lack of discipline.

“We created a difficult situation for ourselves,” the coach admitted. “We're going to fix it.”

And the quarterback's final words: He hugged his running mate as he walked off the field and seemed a little emotional as he talked about how great it was to play and win again.

“Honestly, it's pretty emotional because I know how rare these opportunities are,” Streveler said. “I know how hard these guys work in this building and how high expectations are placed on us, and to start the season like this is just frustrating.”

“But the guys kept working hard, kept persevering … and it paid off.”

They showed up.

What if you hadn't?

now that It would have been ugly.

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