Blue Bombers stun Roughriders, advance to 1st Grey Cup since 2011

The uprights saved the day for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

Winnipeg's defense stood tall with a pair of late goal-line stands and Cody Fajardo doinked a pass off the goalposts on the final play, sending the Blue Bombers to the Grey Cup with a stunning 20-13 win over the Saskatchewan Roughriders in the West final.

It's the Blue Bombers' CFL-record 25th Grey Cup appearance and their first since 2011.

Saskatchewan looked poised to send the game into overtime on a last-minute drive, marching to the Bombers' 9-yard line after Marcus Sayles deflected the ball into Kyran Moore's hands.

However, the Blue Bombers' defense stood tall, sacking Fajardo for a three-yard loss before forcing an incomplete pass. Fajardo looked for the tying touchdown as the clock wound down but instead hit the uprights to end the game in dramatic fashion.

"I told coach the crossbar is 80% air and 20% steel and I hit it," Fajardo said, according to Claire Hanna of CTV Regina. "It's a pretty sick feeling in my stomach."

Blue Bombers quarterback Zach Collaros, who started the season with Saskatchewan and only joined Winnipeg last month, came back to haunt his old team by throwing for 267 yards and a touchdown. Collaros engineered a three-play, 107-yard drive in the first quarter that was the longest series in a CFL playoff game since 2011, according to CFL Communications.

The game was a defensive struggle, with Winnipeg and Saskatchewan trading field goals for most of the second half. Each team allowed three sacks, and the running game was non-existent as neither side rushed for over 90 yards.

Fajardo, the West Division's MOP nominee, completed 27 passes for 366 yards but couldn't find the end zone. He led a pair of Roughrider drives deep into Winnipeg territory late in the fourth but was stuffed inside the 10 on both occasions.

After the game, the 27-year-old revealed he was playing through a pair of torn oblique muscles, according to Global's Taylor Shire.

Winnipeg moves on to face the East champion Hamilton Tiger-Cats in the 107th Grey Cup next Sunday at Calgary's McMahon Stadium.

The matchup marks the revival of a historic championship rivalry. The Blue Bombers and Ticats have played for the Grey Cup on eight previous occasions, last doing so in 1984. But their six meetings from 1957-65 - back when Bud Grant coached the Bombers - remain some of the most memorable in CFL history, including the infamous "Fog Bowl."

The game will also snap one of the two longest active Grey Cup droughts. Hamilton last won the Grey Cup in 1999, while the Bombers are looking for their first championship since 1990.