CALGARY – The Winnipeg Blue Bombers charged out of the gate to start their 2026 CFL season by beating a team they couldn’t last year.

The Bombers defeated the host Calgary Stampeders 30-28 in a tug of war that ended with Sergio Castillo’s walkoff field goal from 38 yards out for the win Friday at McMahon Stadium.

Winnipeg, which went 0-3 against Calgary last season, trailed by a point with 64 seconds remaining.

Stampeders quarterback Vernon Adams Jr., had just marched his offence out of Calgary’s end zone and 104 yards down field for the quarterback to score on a three-yard dash.

Bombers quarterback Zach Collaros connecting with Ontaria Wilson on a 27-yard throw, plus five- and eight-yard carries by running back Brady Oliveira, put Winnipeg in range for Castillo.

“It was a wild game,” Collaros said. “Pure CFL football right there. The conditions were crazy. The wind was nuts pretty much the entire game. I thought we did a good job of handling that in all three phases and playing high IQ football.

“It just feels good, coming to somebody’s house and winning a game.”

Wind gusts up to 57 km/h out of the southwest at kickoff switched directions by the start of the second half.

Oliveira, Tim White and Bryce Perkins scored touchdowns for the visitors. Castillo produced 11 kicking points, including two of the three punt singles Winnipeg scored in the game.

Winnipeg’s defence tightened in the second half after giving up three touchdowns to trail 21-16 at halftime.

Adams was sacked three times in the fourth quarter — twice by Jake Ceresna and once by Willie Jefferson.

“All three phases certainly came through, but we ended up getting to Vernon quite a bit, I guess, in that second half,” Blue Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea said. “Great effort by the front and that relentless sort of pass rush, which was right on time.”

Ceresna recorded three sacks in his debut for Winnipeg. Friday’s game was his first since last September’s Labour Day game at McMahon Stadium when he was an Edmonton Elk.

The 31-year-old shut his 2025 season down after that game to deal with a knee injury.

“This is where my season ended last year, so I just wanted to make sure I had a great game and kind of right the ship,” Ceresna said.

“I was hurt a lot of last year, so it felt good to just be running out there and kind of feeling back like myself again.”

Collaros completed 17 of 28 pass attempts for 233 yards, a touchdown throw and one interception.

Dedrick Mills and backup quarterback Quincy Vaughn each scored short-yardage touchdowns and Erik Brooks had a touchdown catch for Calgary.

Adams was 17 for 27 in passing for 239 yards and one touchdown throw.

“Long season. No one wins or loses the Grey Cup in Game 1,” Adams said.

Calgary’s Jude McAtamney kicked four converts, but missed a 45-yard field goal attempt in the third quarter in front of an announced crowd of 17,743 at McMahon Stadium.

“When you play Winnipeg, I swear, it comes down to a kick 50 per cent of the time or more. They made theirs,” Stampeders head coach and general manager Dave Dickenson.

“They outplayed us in the second half big time.

“In the CFL, you get opportunities to win these close games, you’ve got to win them, especially at home.”

The Stampeders went 11-7 last season to finish third in the West Division ahead of the Blue Bombers at 10-8.

Winnipeg crossed over and fell 42-33 to the Montreal Alouettes in the East semifinal. Calgary lost 33-30 to the B.C. Lions in the West semifinal.

Friday’s first half featured a running backs duel. Mills, the CFL’s leading rusher in 2025, ran for 95 yards and a touchdown and Oliveira for 75 yards and a touchdown.

Mills finished with 112 yards on 16 carries and Oliveira compiled 113 on 15 in the game.

Collaros, 37, was coming off a mediocre 2025 by his standards with almost as many interceptions (16) as touchdown throws (17). His 3,048 passing yards was his lowest total in five years.

Friday’s game was the quarterback’s first under new offensive coordinator Tommy Condell.

“I felt good,” Collaros said. “There will definitely be some things to clean up. I can think of two or three off the top of my head where decisions that I made, I would have liked to go elsewhere with the football in those moments. But for the first game, I thought we did a pretty good job.”

Calgary was minus veteran kicker René Paredes (groin) and defensive linemen Folarin Orimolade (Achilles) and Jaylon Hutchings (hamstring).

Paredes’ run of 247 consecutive CFL games since his 2011 debut came to an end. First-round global draft pick McAtamney of Derry, Northern Ireland, drew in Friday for Paredes.

Up Next:

Stampeders: Bye week.

Blue Bombers: Home-opener Thursday against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 5, 2026.

Note to readers:This is a corrected story. A previous version included incorrect spellings of Tim White’s surname and Dedrick Mills’ first name.

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