The Edmonton Eskimos are 6-0 and the Hamilton Tiger Cats are 0-6.
But the Eskimos’ 33-28 victory Friday night wasn’t the one-sided affair that many fans expected. Mike Reilly scored a pair of touchdowns and passed for two more as the Eskimos remained the only undefeated team in the CFL.
It is the first time the Eskimos have been 6-0 to start the season since 1961.
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It was almost as dramatic as last year’s meeting where Edmonton coughed up a 25 point lead.
The game came down to the final drive with quarterback Zach Collaros scrambling for his life, and almost pulling it out. Even with zeros on the clock, a roughing the passer call gave the Ticats one last chance.
“We had to go out there for one more play, but luckily we didn’t have to,” said defensive end Marcus Howard as one final Hamilton attempt at a review was denied because they had run out of time outs. “We won the ball game and now we’re 6-0.”
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Collaros kept his answers short talking to reporters afterward. “We didn’t win the game. We’re 0-2 against them. So they’re better than us. There’s no moral victories in football.”
Reilly threw for 317 yards and led an offense that chewed up the clock all night. “We made it way harder on ourselves in the fourth quarter of that game. We preach discipline. We preach our keys to victory, our discipline and penalties and maintaining ball security and at the end of the game that almost cost us.”
The injury bug hit the Eskimos again, with Doug Parrish, Brandon Zylstra and Justin Sorensen all unable to finish the game, as 18 players were on the six game injury list.
“Next man up,” said receiver Kenny Stafford.
“Who ever comes in, comes in and becomes a starter. We’re playing like we’re starters man, and we’re just trying to keep it rolling. Six and oh is a beautiful thing.”
Eskimos scored on their first two possessions, and never trailed after that. They started the scoring midway through the first quarter after using its only challenge to successfully earn a pass interference call in the end zone, leading to a one-yard quarterback sneak touchdown by Reilly.
The convert kick was wide.
Hamilton bounced back just over a minute later as QB Zack Collaros found receiver Damarr Aultman _ playing his first CFL game _ for a 46-yard passing TD.
The Ticats added a two-point convert pass to Luke Tasker to take an 8-6 lead.
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The Eskimos regained the lead with 23 seconds left in the opening frame, as Reilly completed a 36-yard TD pass to Bryant Mitchell, part of an eight catch 121 yard effort.
Collaros threw for 282 yards with three touchdowns and one interception in his best game of the season to date.
“Every loss is hard and it doesn’t matter how you lose, a loss is a loss,” said coach Kent Austin.
“I really feel awful for the guys. They played really hard, and really battled all the way to the end. We have a lot of good men in that room.”
“They controlled the clock. They killed the clock on us for most of the game. Gave us very few possessions on offense to do what we needed to do to score enough points.”
The Eskimos padded their lead four minutes into the second on a 15-yard TD pass from Reilly to Vidal Hazelton.
Edmonton fumbled the ball away on its on 17 with just over two minutes to play, eventually leading to a 20-yard touchdown pass to Jalen Saunders.
Edmonton turned the ball over at midfield on a third-down gamble with 42 seconds left, but Hamilton was unable to take advantage.
“I wish we could play them again,” said Tasker. I think that we’re building and growing each week that team or any other team we’re going to be looking better and better next week.”
Reilly doesn’t share that view. He’s glad they’re done with Hamilton this season.
The Eskimos travel to Ottawa next Thursday, while the Tiger-Cats host the Winnipeg Blue Bombers next Saturday.
- With files from The Canadian Press
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