The Western Semi-Final played out similar to how much of the 2018 season went for the Saskatchewan Roughriders. The defence held its ground, the special teams gave the offence good field position, but the Riders couldn’t finish drives.

That ended up costing them in a 23-18 loss to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers on Sunday at Mosaic Stadium.

"We had our opportunities and we were able to kick some field goals, if we could have just got one of those balls in there for a touchdown, it might be a little different, but it's a team effort, it has been all year long and for us, it always will be," said Riders head coach Chris Jones.

Saskatchewan will now head back to the drawing board over the offseason, while the rival Bombers move one win away from advancing to their first Grey Cup since 2011.

Sunday's game ended in controversy as for the second straight game, a Riders quarterback was on the receiving end of a hit-to-the-head. Brandon Bridge took an unpenalized shot to the head on the second-last play of the game, he was knocked out of the game and that forced a cold David Watford to attempt the last-dash hail mary pass, which was his first pass attempt since July 28.

While upset about the hit on his quarterback, Riders offensive lineman Thaddeus Coleman didn't feel that cost them the game

"We can't allow that to come down to the last two plays," he said. "We had our shots in the first half to score touchdowns and we took field goals, we can't do that, in professional football, you can't keep kicking field goals, you have to score touchdowns."

Bridge made the start at quarterback for the Riders when Zach Collaros was a scratch on game-day due to lingering effects from the hit he took in the regular-season finale. 

"[Zach] came back off his break, didn't have any problems while he was at home, he flew back over, he was cleared, so on paper, he could go and it was kind of a re-visit from the Ottawa week and I wasn't going to risk it," said Jones.

Bridge -- who was the first Canadian quarterback to start a CFL Playoff game since 1984 -- didn't cost the Riders the game, but he didn't win Saskatchewan the game either, as he finished 12-of-22 for 100 yards with one interception.

That interception did turn out to be costly, however, as four plays later Bombers quarterback Matt Nichols connected with receiver Drew Wolitarsky for a 20-yard touchdown, which gave Winnipeg a 13-9 lead at halftime.

One of the key moments came on the Riders' second drive of the game, as Bridge missed on a pass to an open Naaman Roosevelt in the end zone on second-and-goal.

The Riders average starting position was the 46-yard line, but they settled for field goals on back-to-back drives to open the game. 

Kicker Brett Lauther ended up going 4-for-4 in the loss.

"This one hurts, we know feel like we had a great chance to win that game, but when you come up short and knowing that we had those plays out there to win the game, it hurts," said Roosevelt, who had a team-high seven catches for 79 yards.

The Riders' defence had done a good job of bottling up running back Andrew Harris in the first half, holding him to just 27 yards, but the veteran broke through in the second half, finishing with 153 yards and a touchdown in the win.

"We didn't tackle very well, we had him at the line of scrimmage or close to the line of scrimmage two or three times and we just didn't tackle very well in the second half," said Jones.

Nichols completed 16-of-22 passes for 169 yards and a touchdown, but more importantly, he protected the ball as the Riders' turnover-happy defence couldn't get that momentum changing play.

Chris Streveler was used effectively to keep the Riders off balance, rushing for 41 yards on two carries.

Saskatchewan's only touchdown came a little too late when Nick Marshall ran in a one-yard score with 2:41 to play.

The Blue Bombers will move onto the Western Final where they will meet the Calgary Stampeders in the post-season for the first time since the 2001 Grey Cup.

The Eastern Final will pit the Ottawa Redblacks against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats after Hamilton rolled to a 48-8 win over the B.C. Lions in Sunday’s Semi-Final.