Liegghio hits late field goal to lift Blue Bombers over Redblacks

WINNIPEG — One moment Dru Brown was feeling concerned, the next he was excited for the opportunity to lead the Winnipeg Blue Bombers to victory on Friday.

The backup quarterback replaced injured starter Zach Collaros and moved the Blue Bombers down the field to set up Marc Liegghio’s 25-yard field goal with six seconds left for a 19-17 season-opening victory over the Ottawa Redblacks.

"Any time you get a win like that, it's exciting,” Brown said. “But I'm just happy the guys trust me in that situation.”

Collaros was hit while running for a first down and got up slowly. He was removed from the game by an injury spotter with under two minutes remaining.

“I just saw him (Collaros) on the ground, and instantly you feel terrible in a situation like that,” said Brown, who's in his second season with the team.

“But I just tried to get past that and let loose because the team needs me. And that's why I'm in that spot.”

Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea said the injury spotter in the Toronto command centre pulled Collaros for three plays. After that, it didn’t make sense to put him back in.

“By then I think we were in field-goal range,” O’Shea said. “I think we were at the point where we were working the clock more than anything.”

Collaros, who completed 18 of 26 pass attempts for 188 yards and one touchdown, has had concussions in the past.

The victory gave the Blue Bombers 10 straight wins at IG Field.

RCMP officers had carried the Grey Cup onto the field prior to kickoff, setting up the unveiling of the Bombers’ 2021 Grey Cup banner to loud cheers from the announced crowd of 26,002.

Jeremiah Masoli made his Redblacks debut after signing with Ottawa (0-1) in February following his release by the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. He was 24