Bombers squeak past Ticats as both teams lose starting QBs to injuries

Rookie Taylor Elgersma and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers won the battle of attrition Sunday night.

Sergio Castillo's 23-yard field goal with 21 seconds remaining lifted Winnipeg to a 14-13 win over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in a game that saw both starting quarterbacks knocked out with injuries.

Bombers' Zach Collaros suffered an upper-body injury early in the second quarter after being sacked by Hamilton's Reggie Stubblefield, whose arm appeared to contact the quarterback's head after initially hitting his shoulder.

Collaros, 37, who has a history of concussions, walked off the field but never returned after completing five-of-seven passes for 41 yards with an interception.

Ticats' quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell, 36, was hurt in the third quarter after being sacked by Winnipeg's Jake Ceresna, who then fell on Mitchell's left leg. The QB was placed on a stretcher and loaded into an ambulance that came onto the field.

Those injuries resulted in Elgersma and Hamilton's Tre Ford both seeing action, marking the first time since 1969 that two U Sports quarterbacks both attempted a pass in a CFL game.

Ford won the 2021 Hec Crighton Trophy at Waterloo while Elgersma earned the 2024 honour at Laurier.

"Two premier starting quarterbacks going down in the same game is not good for the league," said Winnipeg head coach Mike O'Shea. "Hopefully both guys make a speedy recovery, I don't know anything about either one right now.

"Bo was on a heater and the league needs that and obviously we believe Zach is the best quarterback in the league. When you lose that, the game ends up probably the lowest-scoring game this season I'd imagine."

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