Milt Stegall spoiled Don Matthews' return to the Toronto Argonauts on Friday night.

Stegall caught two touchdown passes and became the most prolific receiver in CFL history in leading the Winnipeg Blue Bombers to a lopsided 39-9 win over Toronto in Matthews' first game on the Argos sidelines in 10 years.

With both teams wearing 1950s-style jerseys as part of the CFL's Retro Week promotion, the 38-year-old Stegall looked like a man in his 20s in anchoring Winnipeg's 24-point second-quarter outburst. Stegall's 16-yard touchdown grab tied Allen Pitts' CFL record of 14,891 receiving yards. Then the 14-year veteran shattered the mark in impressive fashion, finding a seam in Toronto's defence to haul in Kevin Glenn's pass, then running untouched into the end zone.

"Well, I needed 17 yards and had eight games so I figured it would eventually happen," Stegall said. "The bigger relief is we got a good victory, a total team victory.

"I won't lie. The fashion in which I broke the record was something special. To go 92 yards, man, I haven't run that far in a long time but if you put the ball in my hands I try to make things happen. It was certainly vintage."

Stegall, already the CFL's career touchdowns (146) and TD catches (143) leader, scored on the only two catches he had. The 108 yards boosted his career total to 14,982.

Stegall's historic accomplishment was displayed on the Jumbotron and he received an enthusiastic ovation from the Rogers Centre gathering of 28,453. But there was no on-field ceremony and play continued with Alexis Serna booting a convert.

"They (fans) boo us but they show me a lot of respect and that's what the CFL is all about," said Stegall. "I tell the young guys this league is driven by fans and if they don't come out, we (players) all have to find new jobs.

"The fact they come out and support us and show me a lot of respect and clap for me says a lot, not only about the organization but also the fans in the CFL and in Toronto and I'm thankful for that."

"We're back in the playoff hunt"

Winnipeg (3-8) moved to within four points of second-place Toronto (4-7) in the East Division standings. The Argos lead the season series 2-1 with the final game scheduled for Oct. 10 at Canad Inns Stadium.

"We're back in the playoff hunt," Stegall said. "We're not in the driver's seat but we're in the car right now.

"For a second we were running behind the car trying to get in. We're in the back seat now. If we lose this game we basically make our (plane) tickets home for Nov. 2 because our last game would be Nov. 1. But we somewhat got our mojo back."

Bombers head coach Doug Berry was all smiles about Stegall's record-setting performance.

"Milt will always be able to say he didn't do it on a nickel-and-dime play," Berry said. "This is something he will always remember.

"He's close to being a grandfather and still was able to run 92 yards."

After watching his club squander a 17-point fourth-quarter lead in last week's 34-31 loss to Saskatchewan, Berry was pleased the Bombers rebounded strongly.

"It was a win we really wanted to have and basically needed to have to keep our drive alive here," he said. "We won today because we beat them in the first half and the second half and that's how you win football games.

"It was good to see they could come back and play a full four quarters."

Matthews certainly couldn't say the same.

He ended a two-year retirement to rejoin the Argos for the third time Tuesday, replacing first-year head coach Rich Stubler. Upon being hired Matthews, the winningest coach in CFL history with 231 regular-season wins, said all Argos players were starting out with a clean slate and that he wouldn't hesitate to make difficult roster decisions to make the club better.

Although Matthews only had three practices - Thursday was a run-through - with the Argos, he shouldered some blame for the club's dismal performance.

"Absolutely disappointed about the score," he said. "We didn't have a good enough understanding about the new things we put in.

"That's on me. We have to identify our playmakers and re-dedicate ourselves to find the skills of our players and put them in a position to succeed."

One player Matthews plans to use more is tailback-kick returner Dominique Dorsey, who was by far Toronto's best performer. Dorsey finished with 303 all-purpose yards despite having an 85-yard punt return TD called back in the fourth.

"Dorsey is Mike (Pinball) Clemons in disguise," Matthews said. "He better be in shape because he'll see the ball as much as possible."

Clemons, now the Argos chief executive officer, begged to differ with Matthews.

"No, he's better," a modest Clemons said. "Make sure everyone knows that."

Glenn finished 16-of-26 passing for 319 yards with four TDs and two interceptions.

Toronto starter Kerry Joseph struggled in the first half, throwing three interceptions and emphatically hearing it from the boobirds each time. He finished 19-of-37 passing for 239 yards before being replaced in the fourth by Cody Pickett.

Matthews was making his first appearance as Toronto's coach since the Argos' '98 East Division loss to Montreal. He retired as the Als head coach in October 2006 due to anxiety issues.

Retro Week wear

Toronto wore powder blue jerseys with dark blue numbers, white pants with blue stripes along the side along with white sox. The traditional blue helmets were replaced by clear white ones that had neither the Argos' insignia nor numbers on them.

Winnipeg had dark blue jerseys with gold numbers and white pants with gold stripes down the side. The players wore blue socks and dark blue helmets.

Neither team had the players' last names on the back of the jerseys.

The Argos cheerleaders also got into the spirit, wearing ankle-length long pink dresses and bobby socks. And replays shown on the Jumbotron were in black and white.

Terrence Edwards, Romby Bryant and Kai Ellis - on a 97-yard interception return - had Winnipeg's other touchdowns. Serna booted five converts, a field goal and single.

Mike Vanderjagt's three field goals accounted for Toronto's scoring.