BY MARK SPECTOR
sportsnet.ca
VANCOUVER -- You know Halloween is around the corner when Lions receiver Paris Jackson masquerades as a punter, Ricky Ray comes dressed as a 135-yard rusher, and a CFL offence makes like it's 50's NFL football, opting not to throw a pass in the final 13:55 of the fourth quarter.
At the outset, Paul McCallum was dressed as the Lions kicker, but his backup Sean Whyte had to sprint to the dressing room and slap on his orange and black costume once McCallum was found to be ineligible. The Lions forgot to inform the league McCallum was off the injured list, and before the night was done, Whyte would nail a 48-yarder with zeroes on the clock to force overtime.
A couple of streakers, a passel of injuries, and after the Edmonton Eskimos had scored a 31-28 overtime victory over the B.C. Lion, the playoff picture out West isn't any more clear than when the evening began.
"This was one crazy game," said Ray, who critiqued his own passing game Saturday as "pitiful."
How weird was this night? Ray threw for 139 yards, and miraculously ran for 135.
"Wasn't throwing very good, we had some turnovers, there were streakers running all over the field," said Ray, who saw one guy out-run security for a 110-yard naked ramble. "That guy was a lot faster than me. If he'd had played quarterback he'd have had 200 yards (rushing)."
With a horrible season one loss away from being put out of its misery, the Eskimos walked into Empire Field and nipped the Lions, who have lost in OT for the second straight week. Both teams are now 5-10, with Edmonton claiming a slight edge after winning the season series with B.C.
B.C. is in Calgary next week, home to Saskatchewan, and closes out their season in Hamilton. The Eskimos get Saskatchewan at Commonwealth next week, host Winnipeg, and play Game 18 in Regina.
"When you allow the quarterback to run free he's going to hurt you. We let our team down," said Lions coach Wally Buono.
A crowd of 21,414 marked the smallest crowd of the year here, at a makeshift stadium constructed out of bits and pieces of leftover venues from the Winter Olympics. The whole is genuinely sweeter than the sum of the parts however, as Empire Field is a lovely Little ballyard, though too small in a good football town at just over 27,000 seats.
You want desperation? If Edmonton lost this game, they would have had to win their final three games while the Lions lost all of theirs to grab third place in the West.
Edmonton ran for 346 yards - Daniel Porter had 171 - and beat B.C. despite giving up three turnovers and collecting none.
In a game that meant everything for the Eskimos season, they threw a wrinkle into their offensive game plan that was commensurate with their level of desperation. They made Ray into a scrambler.
Channeling his inner Damon Allen, Ray carried the ball a career-high 12 times for 135 yards, including a 45-yarder on his first attempt in the opening quarter. Talk about something the Lions couldn't possibly have schemed for, Ray's previous career highs were eight carries for 81 yards, his longest ever rush was a 35-yarder.
"Those (new numbers) are going to stay as career highs too," Ray said. Edmonton didn't plan it out this way over the week. Ray just took what was available on game night.
"They didn't have any contain out there. Their ends were crashing down, we just kept going to it and they kept doing the same thing. We knew their ends played wide. I think we caught them off guard. They came into the game saying, 'He's not a running quarterback."
B.C. safety J.R. Larose broke his leg on the opening kickoff, a harbinger in a game that became a war of attrition as player after player began to break down. Davis Sanchez left the game in the first half with a dislocated elbow depriving the Lions defensive backfield of two key components.
So the Eskimos obliged by going without in the receiving corps, as Kelly Campbell was concussed on a hellacious hit by Dave Hyland, and slotback Kamau Peterson ruptured his Achilles tendon on what was the final play of his season, if not the career for the 32-year-old vet.
On a chilly night off of gritty East Hastings, with Pat Quinn in the crowd, they settled in for some smashmouth football. Edmonton finished it on a one-yard Ray plunge in OT after then Lions had settled for a field goal on the opening drive.
Three games to play, and you get the feeling this race has only just begun.
Mark Spector is the lead columnist for Sportsnet.ca
