Adarius Bowman’s fourth-quarter touchdown proved to be the difference as the Edmonton Eskimos won their home opener, defeating the Montreal Alouettes 23-19 on Friday at Commonwealth Stadium.
“The touchdown, actually it was unexpected, said Bowman.
“It wasn’t even a play to me but I think that’s that trust that me and Mike have built with each other over the years.
“It was crunch time. We needed that play. We had a tough first half so we had to give our all in the second half and the guys showed up.”
Montreal got on the board first, with six minutes left in the opening quarter, on a 22-yard touchdown pass from Darian Durant to Tiquan Underwood. The drive started on a fumble by Eskimos running back John White.
White would fumble again only two minutes later and suffered a knee injury on the play, having to be carried off the field by a teammate. The fumble set up a 12-yard field goal by Boris Bede.
White didn’t return to the game.
Edmonton responded with 13- and 44-yard Sean White field goals in the second quarter, before Bede nailed a late kick from the 33-yard-line to make it 13-6 at the half.
The Eskimos offence struggled in the first half, with Bowman and Brandon Zylstra both dropping touchdown passes.
The Eskimos got their act together to start the third, with Travon Van capping off a long drive with an 11-yard TD run. White’s convert try hit the upright, keeping Montreal in front 13-12.
White redeemed himself on the final play of the third quarter, nailing a 55-yard field goal. Montreal took a 16-15 lead to the fourth.
Early in the fourth, Kenny Ladler intercepted Darian Durant, setting up Bowman’s game-winning TD with just over ten minutes to go. Van added a two-point convert.
The Alouettes responded with a field goal with three minutes left, but the Eskimos were able to control the ball and run out the clock
Bowman finished with nine catches for 117 yards. Reilly was 27/36 for 286 yards and a touchdown.
“It was not the prettiest game. I’m proud of our guys,” said quarterback Mike Reilly. “This is two games in a row where we’ve come out in the second half and have done what we had to do.
The Eskimos are 2-0, while the Alouettes dropped to 1-1. The Eskimos now go into their bye week. They’ll host Ottawa on July 14.
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