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News June 6, 2026

Game Recap | Wpg 30 Cal 28

Brady Oliveira rushed for over 100 yards in the Blue Bombers season-opening win here in Calgary; photos by Cameron Bartlett

@EdTaitWFC

CALGARY — They may have flubbed a few lines and struggled a bit in the first couple acts, but the 2026 debut of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers deserves a couple of hearty thumbs up and bravos across the board.

The Blue Bombers’ curtain raiser saw them waltz into southern Alberta Friday night and exit with a 30-28 last-play win over the Calgary Stampeders in front of 17,743 fans at McMahon Stadium.

So, considered all of these Week 1 goals as mission accomplished:

  • Season opening win: ✔
  • Road win: ✔✔
  • Season opening road win vs. a divisional opponent: ✔✔✔

“We’ve got a resilient group, man, that will fight to the end. A scrappy, scrappy group,” said running back Brady Oliveira, who was sensational with 113 yards rushing on 15 carries and a touchdown and an additional 24 yards on three receptions.

“In this league, in any league, it’s extremely difficult to win. There’s a lot of work that goes into every win. So, to get this against a divisional opponent — and look at what Calgary did last year, they’re a good team, great defence and with Vernon Adams at the helm — you’re going to see a lot of games in the West come down to the end just like that.

“And I love that our group will just fight to the end.”

The dramatic win featured some last minute drama, as the Stampeders took the league 28-27 on an Adams, Jr. three-yard TD run with just over a minute remaining.

The Blue Bombers then got the ball with 64 seconds remaining with Zach Collaros connecting with Pokey Wilson for a 27-yard gain to the Calgary 43, followed by two Oliveira runs of 13 yards. That set up a game-winning 38-yard field goal by Sergio Castillo for the W.

“That never gets old, especially having my wife and two kids here,” said Castillo inside a rambunctious Blue Bombers locker room. “They flew into Calgary because it was going to be 13 hours for them to fly to Winnipeg (with connections). So, for the same price, we flew to Calgary.

“To be able to do that with them here, amazing.”

More on the Blue Bombers season opening win from our view in the press box…

INSTANT TAKEAWAYS

Some key takeaways to munch on in the immediate aftermath:

-Winnipeg cranked out 359 yards offensively against one of the CFL’s stingiest defences, including 233 yards passing by Zach Collaros (17-0f-28) and a TD to Tim White.

-Jake Ceresna’s Blue Bomber debut was superb as he finished with five tackles and three sacks. Willie Jefferson was effective too with a sack and two pass knockdowns.

“I’ve got to get Osh (head coach Mike O’Shea) to never let me play in the preseason game again,” said Ceresna, who didn’t take a snap in the two preseason games, with a chuckle. “I was just glad we were able to come out with a team win.

“Sometimes they just fall your way and they were falling for me tonight.”

-White led the team with five receptions for 60 yards in his debut.

-The Blue Bombers were gashed for 21 points and 120 yards rushing in the first half — including 95 yards by Dedrick Mills — but surrendered just seven points in the final 30 minutes while Mills was limited to just 17 yards in the second half.

“In the first half we just weren’t on the same page,” said Ceresna. “A lot of missed assignments… we have so much to clean up, even myself. I feel at times I wasn’t playing good.

“In the second half were were most assignment sound. That drive at the end (by Calgary), we’ve got to be more assignment sound to not put our offence in that position, but I’m glad they bailed us out tonight and we got the ‘W.'”

-And Oliveira’s 113 yards allowed him to move past Gerry James into fifth spot on the franchise’s all-time rushing list at 5,594. James finished his hall of fame career at 5,541 yards. Next on the list for Oliveira is Jim Washington in fourth place at 5,736.

“That was a wild game, a wild finish,” said Collaros. “That’s pure CFL football right there. It was pretty cool. The conditions were crazy — the wind was nuts pretty much the entire game. I thought we did a good job of handling that in all three phases. We’ve got to clean some stuff up for sure, but I’m just really proud of the effort that we played at.

“… It feels good to come into somebody’s house and win games. First win of the season, you get the first win out of the way and Calgary is a great football team and a great organization, so this is good.”

Let’s not complicate things here — when a game is decided on a last play field goal, that’s the key moment. And Castillo’s 38-yarder as time expired was the perfect capper to an outstanding night.

Winnipeg was 0-3 against Calgary last year and just 4-6 against the West Division, so to come into Cowtown and get a W was mammoth. Critical was the in-game bounce back by the defence, which surrendered just the one TD in the final 30 minutes after getting crushed for three scores in the second quarter.

The Blue Bombers return to Winnipeg for next week’s home opener vs. the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Thursday, June 11th, with a 7:30 p.m. start. Of note: let’s keep this rolling — the club is looking to extend its consecutive sellout streak to 15.