For 49 years the Winnipeg Blue Bombers have traveled to Saskatchewan to play in the Labour Day Classic.

Even fans from Winnipeg make the six hour drive to Regina but in each of the past 10 seasons the Blue Bombers have failed to reward their loyal fan base with a victory.

Make that 11 seasons after the lowly Saskatchewan Roughriders cruised past the Bombers 37-19 for their first win of the season.

The Roughriders improve their record to 1 win and 9 losses while the Blue Bombers now have 3 wins and 7 losses.

Winnipeg has now lost 4 games in a row and 6 of their last 7.

The blue and gold got out to a 10-0 lead in the first quarter off a 50 yard field goal by Lirim Hajrullahu and a touchdown scored from the one yard line by quarterback Brian Brohm.

They scored those points moving the ball with the wind.

But that’s about all offense the Bombers could muster before the Roughriders took over the game.  The green guys scored 29 unanswered points against Winnipeg starting in the second quarter.

That’s when former University of Manitoba Bison and Winnipeg product Nic Demski led the charge with a 60 yard punt return for a touchdown.  

In the third quarter with the Riders leading 16-10, Saskatchewan quarterback Brett Smith connected with receiver Ryan Smith for a 27 yard touchdown to give their team a 22-10 advantage.

Saskatchewan scored another major in the fourth quarter to jump ahead 29-10.

Winnipeg scored a late touchdown in the fourth quarter when Cameron Marshall ran into the house for a two yard score but by then it was too late to start any kind of comeback.

Blue Bombers linebacker Sam Hurl said the Bombers had to come out with a win but didn’t get the job done.

"I left some plays on the field, the defense—we left some plays on the field, special teams left some plays on the field,” said Hurl.  “Those are the facets of the game that I can talk about.  Obviously we didn't do good enough to win this game."

In his second start for the Blue Bombers Brohm completed 21 of 26 passes attempted for 184 yards.  He also ran the ball for 22 yards.

Brohm said the loss is frustrating.

"We got to find a way to make some bigger plays, get some more yards on offense, convert a few more of those second downs, be a little better on first down,” said Brohm.  “I thought we played pretty clean as an offense, just got to find a way to generate more yards."

Head coach Mike O’Shea saw discipline as the Bombers’ biggest problem—his team took a total of 17 penalties amounting to 140 yards.

“The chief issue, the number oneissue we had today was penalties.”

“We didn't get off the field when we should've at the end of the third quarter.  That was tough,” said O’Shea. “I think they were a little bit more effective obviously than us going into the wind, that's another thing.” 

It wasn’t all bad news for Manitobans.

Winnipeg product Bob Dyce recorded his first CFL win as a head coach.  Dyce, who’s filling the job on interim basis right now said after the game he was happiest for the players in the locker room.

“They went through nine hard weeks,” said Dyce.  “For them to have a victory materialize today I’m just ecstatic about that.”

Fellow Manitoban Nic Demski said he was happy for his head coach and is already anticipating next Saturday’s rematch with the Bombers in the Banjo Bowl at Investors Group Field in Winnipeg.

“He has family there, I got family there,” said Demski.  “There’s definitely going to be Rider fans in the stands and there’s going to be great fan support.”

“Rider nation’s going to make the drive down there to watch the game.  It’s going to be a blast and I can’t wait for it.”