Saskatchewan Roughriders quarterback Jake Dolegala. (Submitted Photo/Saskatchewan Roughriders)

By CJME; Britton Gray

Game Day

Another chapter to be written in Labour Day Classic story

Sep 3, 2023 | 11:26 AM

Another chapter is set to be written in the chronicles of the Labour Day Classic.

The Saskatchewan Roughriders will host the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in front of a sold-out crowd on Sunday at Mosaic Stadium. Kickoff for the 59th Labour Day Classic is set for 5 p.m.

“It’s a neat week. It feels like it’s a bigger game for sure than other games,” Riders head coach Craig Dickenson said. “It just has a little more energy and a little more meaning. It still counts the same in the standings and you still have to do the same things to win it.

“We usually don’t have any trouble getting the guys motivated for this one.”

While the Riders have a 37-21 all-time record in the series – including winning 14 of the last 17 games – it has been the Bombers who have had the last laugh recently.

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Winnipeg has won the past two Labour Day Classics and has beaten Saskatchewan in the past five regular-season games while adding two wins in the playoffs.

“We have to play well. That’s a good team – they are 9-and-2 and we have talked a lot about them this week,” Dickenson said. “Just watching them from afar, you can just see they are a very good football team.”

While there will be a number of Bombers fans in attendance, Dickenson hopes the Riders can feed off the sold-out crowd of 33,350.

“It could be really good because the crowd really helps us,” Dickenson said. “Anytime we can get a lot of folks in the stadium and people in the stands, it helps us because they get loud and it gives us the ability to have some home-field advantage and force the offence to go on silent (counts), which is tough to do.

“We hope the sellout crowd can be an advantage for us.”

Former Riders quarterback Zach Collaros is undefeated against the Riders since he became the Bombers’ starter late in the 2019 regular season.

“He’s a great player and has a great connection with the receivers – (Dalton) Schoen, Nic Demski, all them guys. It’s just trying to get him out of rhythm,” said linebacker Micah Teitz.

Collaros is once again having a great season, throwing for 2,538 yards and a CFL-leading 20 touchdowns against nine interceptions.

“He makes a lot of plays getting out of the pocket. We have to keep him in the pocket and force him to give us some easy ones like he’s been giving up the past few weeks,” Teitz said.

The Riders will also have to deal with Winnipeg running back Brady Oliveira, who entered the week with a league-leading 902 rushing yards.

“Just play gap-sound football. It starts up front – we believe we have the best D-line in the CFL and they make our jobs easy, so that’s good,” Teitz said.

For Saskatchewan, it will be Jake Dolegala who will try to turn around the Riders’ recent fortunes against their rivals.

The second-year quarterback threw for 239 yards and three touchdowns in a 34-29 win over the B.C. Lions on Aug. 20 in just his second CFL start.

With Trevor Harris (knee) and Mason Fine (hamstring) still on the six-game injured list, Dolegala will start his second straight game for the Green and White.

“Everybody is excited,” Dolegala said. “I think there has been so much buildup to the game, I think we are just ready to get out there and play.”

One weapon he will have at his disposal is breakout Canadian receiver Sam Emilus. The second-year CFLer wowed fans with a 37-yard touchdown grab that saw him jump up and take the ball away from a B.C. defender.

He admits even he was impressed by the catch after he saw it.

“Sometimes when you’re in the game, you don’t get to appreciate and see what you’ve done until you’ve watched it on film,” Emilus said. “After watching the replay and everything, I did something great.

“It was a big catch and I’m proud it was me that did it for the team.”

Emilus will also try to recreate the game he had against Winnipeg in Week 2. The Bombers won the matchup 45-27 despite Emilus hauling in three touchdown passes.

“I haven’t won a game against Winnipeg yet and it’s Labour Day so it could be perfect timing,” he said. “Sunday is going to be a battle but we’re ready.”