The back end of the “Battle of Alberta” lived up to the key word, battle, as the Calgary Stampeders held on to hand the Edmonton Eskimos loss number four in a row in the rematch with a 25-22 victory.
The last two possessions in the home-and-home set saw Marquay McDaniel haul in a touchdown catch in the final minute, then Chris Milo sail what would have been a tying 47-yard field goal wide with no time left on the clock.
The Eskimos lost their fourth in a row, lose defensive back Mercy Maston with an Achilles injury in the pre-game warm-up, and lose for a few plays because of the concussion protocol quarterback Mike Reilly.
That’s what really burned coach Jason Maas.
“I love the CFL. I don’t want to get fined for anything I’m about to say. But at the same time with rules, there’s sometimes circumstances that come up in games where you can question things that are being done in our league.”
Maas said Reilly ran off the field, didn’t wobble, and didn’t show any signs of being hurt. “To me, if our quarterback not only can’t wobble off the field, but he jog off the field, run off the field, go see a doctor in a split second they can ask him all of the ten questions they need to ask him and he should be back sooner than three plays, why does he have to stay out three plays? That would be my question.”
Shortly after Reilly came back into the game, he hooked up with Brandon Zylstra for a 67 yard completion, setting up one of the Eskimos’ field goals.
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The Stampeders remain in first place in the CFL with a record of 9-1-1, Winnipeg after winning the back end “Banjo Bowl” of their Labour Day set with Saskatchewan is 8-3, and two points up on the 7-4 Eskimos.
“I’ll just say this, losing sucks,” Maas said having to be bleeped out in his post game comments. “There’s no other way to put it. Losing sucks, whether you lose by one, forty, or two or three, it sucks. That’s all I can say about it.”
“Every loss is tough for sure,” Reilly said, throwing 461 passing yards. “There’s no question about it. They all sting. It stings a little more in certain situations but that’s the way goes. You’ve got to move on from it. That’s obviously a very good football team that we played against.”
The game was a defensive battle to start until Calgary got on the board with a 19-yard Rene Paredes field goal with 2:23 left in the opening quarter after the Stampeders got the ball deep in Edmonton territory due to a bad snap on a punt.
Edmonton responded shortly afterward to start the second quarter, as Derel Walker took the handoff on a reverse and scored on a two-yard touchdown run. The convert kicked missed, but it was still the Eskimos’ first lead in more than three games at 6-3.
“A lot of things that were out of our control that didn’t go our way we wish that went in our direction,” Walker said. “But we can’t control that. The game ended the way it did, but we’ll see how we can continue to build and get better.”
The Esks added a 26-yar Milo field goal on their next possession, before Calgary came back with a 39-yard three-pointer of its own.
Calgary surged back into the lead with 47 seconds left in the first half as a 48-yard pass from Mitchell to Marken Michel set up a one-yard unconverted TD plunge by Andrew Buckley to make it 12-9 at the break.
The Eskimos tied the game on a 21-yard Milo field goal midway through the third, but Calgary came back with another one-yard TD by Buckley, again unconverted.
“Man this was a big one,” McDaniel said after his game winning TD. “I think we stole this one.”
“You know, a minute and a half on the clock, I think we’re one of the best in the league at no-huddle,” Bo Levi Mitchell said of the 69-yard touchdown drive. “Hats off to the defense. They way they’re playing right now, with out them, we’re getting blown out. We’re not playing well offensively, not well enough. I’ll start with myself. But we’re never going to apologize for coming out here and winning the Labour Day rematch against a very good team.”
“You know it’s so physical and there’s so much riding on these two games. To sweep is big,” said coach Dave Dickinson. “We’ve got the season series. Honestly I’m just trying to catch my breath because I don’t even feel that happy yet. We’ve got to get better.”
Both teams play next Saturday with the third place Eskimos in Toronto and the front running Stamps home to BC. Second place Winnipeg is off next week.
With files from the Canadian Press
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