Rod Pedersen
The Saskatchewan Roughriders (6-1) visited the Edmonton Eskimos (1-6) Saturday afternoon at Commonwealth Stadium in a CFL West Division showdown. It was the second of a four-game season series which the Riders led 1-0 going into the contest. Missed the game? Here’s the game log from the broadcast booth:
– It was 26 degrees and sunny at the 2:00 pm kickoff with a west northwest wind at 9 km/h.
– The Riders wore their all-white uniforms (white jerseys, pants and helmets) while the Eskimos were in their all-greens (green jerseys, pants and helmets).
– The Rider scratches from the 46-man roster were: WR Jordan Sisco, KR Jock Sanders, DB Carlos Thomas and DE Hilee Taylor.
– Edmonton won the coin toss and elected to take the football to open the game. They began their opening drive at their 27-yard line with Mike Reilly at quarterback. It was his ninth career start. They got to the Rider 39 before Hugh O’Neill attempted a 47-yard field goal. It was good, and the Eskimos led 3-0 at the 2:37 mark.
– Riders took the ball at their 35 for their opening drive. It was Darian Durant’s 78th career start at QB for the Green. They got to the Edmonton 20 for kicker Chris Milo to line up a 27-yard field goal. It was good. The key play in the drive was a 37-yard Durant-to-Weston Dressler hook-up. 3-3 at the 5:28 mark.
– Eskimos took over at their 35. First play Reilly was sacked by Tearrius George for #93’s fourth QB takedown of the year. They were 2-and-out.
– Saskatchewan got it back at their 25 after a Weston Dressler punt return. They were 2-and-out. WR Eron Riley, replacing the injured Rob Bagg, come out of the series with injury.
– Riders 2-and-out on their third series.
– Saskatchewan got its second sack, from DT Jermaine McElveen, on Edmonton’s fourth series forcing a third-straight 2-and-out.
– On the Riders’ next series, their fourth, left tackle Xavier Fulton went out with a lower left leg injury. On the next play Saskatchewan gave up its first sack of the contest. The possession carried into the second quarter.
AFTER ONE: RIDERS 3 ESKIMOS 3
– On the second play of the second period Milo hit a 31-yard field goal for a 6-3 Rider lead.
– It was short-lived. On the next Edmonton series Reilly fired a 33-yard touchdown strike to Fred Stamps for a 10-6 lead with 11:21 to go in the half.
– Riders were knocking on the door of the Red Zone with 3:00 to go at the Edmonton 28 but Durant was sacked for a second time, setting up a 43-yard Milo field goal attempt. It was good, making him 19/19 on the year and it cut the Eskimos lead to 10-9 with 2:48 to go.
– Saskatchewan took the lead on its next series with a Chris Milo 23-yard chip shot, making it 12-9 for the Green & White with 39.3 seconds to go in the half.
– Edmonton marched it quickly downfield in the final minute but Reilly was picked off by Rider safety Tyron Brackenridge in Rider territory for the game’s first turnover, snuffing out the threat.
AT THE BREAK: RIDERS 12 ESKIMOS 10
– The Riders got the ball to open the second half, beginning at their 39. They got to the Eskimo 29 before attempting a 36-yard Milo field goal. He struck it through, making him 5/5 on the day, and Saskatchewan upped its lead to 15-10. The opening drive took 4:13 off the clock.
– Eskimos’ first series began at their 35-yard line following the field goal. They promptly marched it downfield 75 yards and ended the drive with a 21-yard Reilly-to-Stamps touchdown reception. 17-15 Esks at the 8:50 mark.
– The attendance: 41,868
– Riders’ second series started at their 35 after a Diamond Ferri kickoff return. They moved it all the way downfield and Kory Sheets ended the drive with a 10-yard touchdown drive, his fifth major of the year, and Saskatchewan went back up 22-17. On the carry Sheets went over 1000 yards on the season and is the quickest player in CFL history to hit the millenium plateau in a season.
– The Eskimos answered back on a 78-yard drive of their own with Reilly finding WR Cary Koch on a slant pattern for a 13-yard scored and the Esks went up 24-22 with 39.6 left in the third.
AFTER THREE: ESKIMOS 24 RIDERS 22
– On Edmonton’s next series Hugh O’Neill attempted a long 43-yard field goal and was good, making it 27-22 Eskimos with 10:43 to go
– Riders took it at their 35. They very promptly moved it downfield and ended the drive with an 18-yard Kory Sheets touchdown rush putting Saskatchewan up 29-27 with 8:00 left.
– Back-and-forth they went. Eskimos took over at their 49 after a 43-yard Hugh Charles return. However on 2-and-goal from the Rider 5, Saskatchewan DB Dwight Anderson picked off Reilly in the endzone on a pass intended for Fred Stamps and the Eskimos came away with no points.
– Riders took over at their 25. They got to the Edmonton 47 before punting. Ricky Schmitt hit a 55-yard punt single for a 30-27 lead.
– With 2:05 left the Eskimos got it at their 35. Reilly carried it twice, then was sacked and fumbled inside his 45. LB Weldon Brown got the sack and a forced fumble on the same play. The Riders’ Ricky Foley recovered at the Edmonton 44. It was Edmonton’s third turnover to the Riders’ none.
– Riders ran time out with a series of Kory Sheets runs and got out of town with the victory
GAME OVER! ROUGHRIDERS 30 ESKIMOS 27
POSTGAME COMMENTS FROM RIDER HEAD COACH COREY CHAMBLIN
* It’s the second six of the season and teams shore up in this period. It’s usually tight games like this in this course of the year. The biggest thing is we came out with the win. The guys were like clockwork, slow and steady, but we got it done.
* The biggest thing is I still think they have the makings to be a good football team here but today was our day. We, over the course of the day, had more positive plays than they did.
* In the second six of the season all teams will be more evenly matched because they’ve gone through their ups and downs in the first six. The games won’t be like the first six when we ran away with them.
* It’s a foot injury with Xavier Fulton. D.A. went down too but we stayed steady and no one gave up. The next guy was up and we played ball.
* Fred Stamps will go down as one of the best in this league for a long time but D.A. did a good job on him. He got one in double coverage but when it came down to it, D.A. made the big play on him.
* It’s huge for Weldon Brown to force that fumble on the last series. He’s been trying to bust through and I’m pretty sure it was special to do it against his old team.
** The Roughriders take a 7-1 record into Sunday’s Labour Day Classic against the 1-7 Winnipeg Blue Bombers. Kickoff on Sunday at Mosaic Stadium is 2:00 pm on TSN and the CKRM Rider Radio Network.
