EDMONTON — Two quick-strike, third-quarter touchdowns carried the Edmonton Eskimos to a 29-20 victory over the Calgary Stampeders on Saturday to keep alive their hopes for a second-place finish in the CFL West Division.
Quarterback Mike Reilly hit Brandon Zylstra and Adarius Bowman with scoring passes to break open an 8-6 lead and spark the Eskimos (11-6) to their fourth straight victory. The loss was Calgary’s second straight, but the Stampeders (13-3-1) had already clinched first place long ago.
Edmonton will play Saskatchewan in Regina next weekend to determine the second-, third- and fourth-place finishes in the West. Edmonton is now tied with Winnipeg with 22 points, two up on the Roughriders.
The first quarter was about as uneventful as 15 minutes of CFL action could be, with the teams combining for just 103 yards total offence, and neither coming even close to threatening to score.
It took the game’s first turnover early in the second — Edmonton came up short on third-and-one on its own 47-yard line — to create a scoring chance. The Stamps, trying to rebound from last weekend’s 30-7 loss to Roughriders, moved the ball to the Edmonton 10 before stalling and settling for a 17-yard Rene Paredes field goal.
The Eskimos, who have been plagued by injuries since training camp, lost defensive back Brandyn Thompson on the series with a lower-body injury.
Six plays after Calgary’s score, Reilly hit Derel Walker with a 45-yard pass to set up an eight-yard touchdown strike to Bowman at 9:53.
Calgary got a second field goal three minutes later, this one from 44 yards, after a 38-yard reception by DaVaris Daniels got the Stampeders into range.
After Charleston Hughes’ league-leading 10th quarterback sack forced Edmonton to punt, Hugh O’Neill booted a 47-yard single for an 8-6 Eskimos lead at the half. The sack was the 99th for Hughes in his 10-year career, still well off the all-time record of 156 by former Hamilton Tiger-Cat Grover Covington.
In stark contrast to the first half, the second opened with an explosion of points. Two plays in Reilly hit Zylstra with a 77-yard scoring strike and O’Neill followed with an 87-yard single on the kickoff. Calgary responded with a nine-play 75-yard drive capped by Anthony Parker’s nine-yard touchdown reception.
Jamil Smith’s 64-yard kickoff return to Calgary’s 35 created the opportunity for Bowman to grab a boot-top pass from Reilly and turn it into a 17-yard touchdown four plays later for a 23-13 lead. Swayze Waters kicked a 15-yard field goal with four minutes left.
Bo Levi Mitchell marched Calgary 75 yards in seven plays, ending with Kamar Jorden’s 13-yard touchdown catch and Waters kicked a 38-yard field goal with 15 seconds left to create the final score.
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