Game Summary

It was a battle of two Eastern teams at the SkyDome this week as the Toronto Argonauts played host to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. After squeaking out a win in Calgary last week the Argonauts were looking to reach the elusive .500 mark with a victory. The Winnipeg Blue Bombers on the other hand arrived in Toronto still searching for their first win of the season. Things looked good for Winnipeg early when K Troy Westwood broke up a tight defensive battle booting a 52-yard FG attempt with 4:11 remaining in the first quarter. In the second quarter, K Noel Prefontaine got the Argonauts on the board when his 57-yard punt sailed into the end zone and was conceded for a single by Winnipeg RB Eric Blount at 1:50. Westwood restored Winnipeg’s 3-point cushion at 8:19 of the quarter, when his 34-yard FG attempt went wide scoring a single point. Toronto clawed back within a point shortly afterward when P Bob Cameron conceded a 2-point safety by kneeling in the end zone. Winnipeg took an 11-3 lead with 2:01 remaining in the first half when DB Reggie Carthon intercepted QB Kerwin Bell’s pass and ran it back 53 yards for the score. Westwood’s convert was good. In a big momentum shift, however, the Argonauts closed the gap to 1-point at the half when Bell hit RB Mike Clemons for a 33-yard scoring strike with 16 seconds remaining in the quarter. Prefontaine’s convert was successful. Toronto, building on the energy of their late first half rally, started to pull away from the visiting Blue Bombers in the third quarter. First Bell found wide-out Nigel Williams for an 18-yard score at 5:04. Prefontaine’s convert coupled with Cameron’s second conceded safety at 10:00 gave Toronto a 8-point advantage. Prefontaine’s 22-yard FG at 12:14 rounded out the scoring in the quarter with the Boatmen ahead by a 22-11 margin. In the final period of play Westwood cut into Toronto’s lead by nailing a 38-yard FG at 9:25. But Toronto put the game out of reach by scoring on a 1-yard TD run by Clemons with 1:36 remaining in the match. Prefontaine’s convert made the final score 29-14 in favour of the Argonauts. The victory evened Toronto’s record at 3-3 while leaving Winnipeg still waiting for win #1 of the 1998 CFL season.